graissevsgrassWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,012
“graisse” frequency rank
#38,828
“grass” frequency rank
47840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graisse grass
Definition Substance onctueuse, de peu de consistance et fondant facilement, dite en chimie corps gras et répandue en diverses parties du corps de l’homme ou de l’animal. Herbe.

Where the eye mixes graisse and grass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. graisse runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against grass's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
graisse
5 ch
grass

Why the eye confuses graisse with grass

A purely visual mix-up. graisse (\ɡʁɛs\) and grass (\ɡɹɑːs\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

graisse is recorded at frequency rank #9,012, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛs\. grass is at rank #38,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɹɑːs\.

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 47840, this pair ranks #183,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of graisse vs grass

Shared letters: agrs. Private to "graisse": ei. Private to "grass": -.

"graisse" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV  ·  "grass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graisse ← garisse · ggraisse · graise · graises · grasise · griasse · grraisse · rgaisse
  • grass ← ggrass · grrass · grsas · rgass

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "graisse" and "grass" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁɛs\ versus \ɡɹɑːs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "graisse" or "grass" show up more?
"graisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,012 in our French list, against #38,828 for "grass". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "graisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #183,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "graisse" and "grass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graf vs grass". 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 #183,725 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