Which to use
“grande” and “grave” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #211
- “grande” frequency rank
- #965
- “grave” frequency rank
- 1176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grande | grave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de grand. | Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. |
Where the eye mixes grande and grave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: grande vs grave
A purely visual mix-up. grande (\ɡʁɑ̃d\) and grave (\ɡʁav\) 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 1176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grande is recorded at frequency rank #211, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑ̃d\. grave is at rank #965, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\.
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 1176, this pair ranks #438,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grande vs grave
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grande": dn. Private to "grave": v.
"grande" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grande" for "grave" ever safe?
Which is more common, "grande" or "grave"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "grande" and "grave" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grande" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grande" and "grave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs grave". 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 #438,487 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.