Which to use
“grand” is an adjective and “grau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #136
- “grand” frequency rank
- #41,808
- “grau” frequency rank
- 41944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grand | grau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | De dimensions (hauteur/taille, longueur, profondeur, etc.) importantes, qui dépassent celles de ses semblables, ou de longue durée. Par exemple, de volume supérieur à la moyenne (ou normale) des individus de même espèce et sexe et d’âge similaire. | Chenal qui relie une étendue d’eau à la mer. |
Where the eye mixes grand and grau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. grand runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against grau's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses grand with grau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grand is \ɡʁɑ̃\ while grau is \ɡʁo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grand is recorded at frequency rank #136, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑ̃\. grau is at rank #41,808, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁo\.
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 41944, this pair ranks #229,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grand vs grau
Shared letters: agr. Private to "grand": dn. Private to "grau": u.
"grand" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "grau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grand" and "grau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "grand" or "grau"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "grand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grand" and "grau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grau 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 #229,385 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.