graduévsgravéeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#44,482
“gradué” frequency rank
#17,439
“gravée” frequency rank
61921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gradué gravée
Definition Sur lequel sont portées des marques à intervalles réguliers afin de permettre la mesure. Féminin singulier de gravé.

Where the eye mixes gradué and gravée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gradué and gravée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
gradué
6 ch
gravée

Why the eye confuses gradué with gravée

A purely visual mix-up. gradué (\ɡʁa.dɥe\) and gravée (\ɡʁa.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61921, 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\. gravée is at rank #17,439, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.ve\.

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 61921, this pair ranks #89,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gradué vs gravée

Shared letters: agré. Private to "gradué": du. Private to "gravée": ev.

"gradué" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "gravée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gradué" and "gravée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁa.dɥe\ versus \ɡʁa.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gradué" or "gravée"?
"gravée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,439 in our French list, against #44,482 for "gradué". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gradué" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gravée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gradué" and "gravée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gradué vs Graeme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #89,747 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list