Which to use
“grande” is an adjective and “gratte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #211
- “grande” frequency rank
- #9,013
- “gratte” frequency rank
- 9224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grande | gratte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de grand. | De la ciguatera, un empoisonnement banal par la consommation de certains poissons des récifs tropicaux et lagons. |
Where the eye mixes grande and gratte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grande with gratte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grande is \ɡʁɑ̃d\ while gratte is \ɡʁat\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grande is recorded at frequency rank #211, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑ̃d\. gratte is at rank #9,013, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁat\.
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 9224, this pair ranks #417,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grande vs gratte
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grande": dn. Private to "gratte": t.
"grande" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "gratte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grande" and "gratte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "grande" or "gratte"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "grande" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gratte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grande" and "gratte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs gratte". 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 #417,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.