Which to use
“grain” and “grains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,620
- “grain” frequency rank
- #8,859
- “grains” frequency rank
- 15479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grain | grains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fruit et semence des céréales contenu dans l’épi. | Pluriel de grain. |
Same sound, different letters: grain vs grains
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: grain vs grains
This is the hard kind. grain and grains are pronounced identically (\ɡʁɛ̃\) 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 extra letter(s) - “grain” sits inside “grains”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grain is recorded at frequency rank #6,620, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛ̃\. grains is at rank #8,859, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛ̃\.
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 15479, this pair ranks #392,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grain vs grains
Shared letters: aginr. Private to "grain": -. Private to "grains": s.
"grain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "grains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grain" for "grains" ever safe?
Which is more common, "grain" or "grains"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "grain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grain" and "grains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grain vs Groix". 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 #392,187 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.