Which to use
“graduée” and “graduel” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,294
- “graduée” frequency rank
- #43,963
- “graduel” frequency rank
- 84257
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | graduée | graduel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de gradué. | Qui va par degrés. |
Where the eye mixes graduée and graduel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. graduée (CCVCVVV) and graduel (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: graduée vs graduel
A purely visual mix-up. graduée (\ɡʁa.dɥe\) and graduel (\ɡʁad.ɥɛl\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
graduée is recorded at frequency rank #40,294, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.dɥe\. graduel is at rank #43,963, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁad.ɥɛl\.
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 84257, this pair ranks #13,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of graduée vs graduel
Shared letters: adegru. Private to "graduée": é. Private to "graduel": l.
"graduée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVV · "graduel" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- graduel ← garduel · ggraduel · gradduel · gradeul · graduell · gradule · graudel · grdauel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "graduée" for "graduel" ever safe?
Which is more common, "graduée" or "graduel"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "graduée" and "graduel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "graduée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "graduel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "graduée" and "graduel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gradué vs graduel". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #13,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.