gradué vs grave, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“gradué” and “grave” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,482
“gradué” frequency rank: #965
“grave” frequency rank: 45447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gradué	grave
Definition	Sur lequel sont portées des marques à intervalles réguliers afin de permettre la mesure.	Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gradué and grave apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

gradué

5 ch

grave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gradué (\ɡʁa.dɥe\) and grave (\ɡʁav\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gradué is recorded at frequency rank #44,482, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.dɥe\. grave is at rank #965, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 45447, this pair ranks #202,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gradué vs grave

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gradué": dué. Private to "grave": ev.

"gradué" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

grave ← garve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequency comparison

gradué#44,482

grave#965

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gradué" and "grave" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\ɡʁa.dɥe\ versus \ɡʁav\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "gradué" or "grave"?

"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our French list, against #44,482 for "gradué". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gradué vs grave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gradué” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable