graffvsgraviTell them apart

Quick tell: graff is a noun, gravi is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“graff” is a noun and “gravi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,082
“graff” frequency rank
#36,420
“gravi” frequency rank
81502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graff gravi
Definition Inscription calligraphiée ou dessin tracé, peint ou gravé sur un support inhabituel et qui a vocation artistique. Participe passé masculin singulier de gravir.

Where the eye mixes graff and gravi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. graff (CCVCC) and gravi (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
graff
5 ch
gravi

Why the eye confuses graff with gravi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: graff is \ɡʁaf\ while gravi is \ɡʁa.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81502, 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\. gravi is at rank #36,420, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡʁa.vi\.

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 81502, this pair ranks #18,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of graff vs gravi

Shared letters: agr. Private to "graff": f. Private to "gravi": iv.

"graff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "gravi" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graff ← garff · ggraff · grfaf · grraff · rgaff
  • gravi ← garvi · ggravi · graiv · gravvi · grravi · grvai · rgavi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "graff" for "gravi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "graff" is a noun and "gravi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "graff" vs "gravi" - which ranks higher?
"gravi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,420 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.

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 "graff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gravi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "graff" and "gravi" 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 #18,619 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