Which to use
“grain” and “gray” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,620
- “grain” frequency rank
- #12,973
- “gray” frequency rank
- 19593
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grain | gray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fruit et semence des céréales contenu dans l’épi. | Unité de mesure de dose absorbée du Système international (SI), définie comme valant 1 joule par kilogramme. Son symbole est Gy. |
Where the eye mixes grain and gray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grain with gray
A purely visual mix-up. grain (\ɡʁɛ̃\) and gray (\ɡʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19593, 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\. gray is at rank #12,973, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁe\.
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 19593, this pair ranks #372,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grain vs gray
Shared letters: agr. Private to "grain": in. Private to "gray": y.
"grain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "gray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grain" and "gray" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "grain" or "gray" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "grain" and "gray" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grain" and "gray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gray vs grow". 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 #372,498 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.