graffvsgrapheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,082
“graff” frequency rank
#22,882
“graphe” frequency rank
67964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graff graphe
Definition Inscription calligraphiée ou dessin tracé, peint ou gravé sur un support inhabituel et qui a vocation artistique. Courbe représentative d’une fonction. → voir représentation graphique

Same sound, different letters: graff vs graphe

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. graff runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against graphe's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
graff
6 ch
graphe

Homophone desk: graff vs graphe

This is the hard kind. graff and graphe are pronounced identically (\ɡʁaf\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67964, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

graff is recorded at frequency rank #45,082, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁaf\. graphe is at rank #22,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁaf\.

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 67964, this pair ranks #61,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of graff vs graphe

Shared letters: agr. Private to "graff": f. Private to "graphe": ehp.

"graff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "graphe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graff ← garff · ggraff · grfaf · grraff · rgaff
  • graphe ← garphe · ggraphe · grahpe · grapeh · graphhe · grapphe · grpahe · grraphe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "graff" and "graphe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɡʁaf\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "graff" or "graphe"?
"graphe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,882 in our French list, against #45,082 for "graff". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"graff" and "graphe" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "graff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graphe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "graff" and "graphe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "GAFA vs graff". 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 #61,215 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