Which to use
“grands” is an adjective and “gratis” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #477
- “grands” frequency rank
- #20,748
- “gratis” frequency rank
- 21225
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grands | gratis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de grand. | Sans qu’il en coûte rien, gratuitement. |
Where the eye mixes grands and gratis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grands with gratis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grands is \ɡʁɑ̃\ while gratis is \ɡʁa.tis\. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grands is recorded at frequency rank #477, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑ̃\. gratis is at rank #20,748, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɡʁa.tis\.
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 21225, this pair ranks #364,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grands vs gratis
Shared letters: agrs. Private to "grands": dn. Private to "gratis": it.
"grands" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "gratis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grands" and "gratis" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "grands" vs "gratis" - which ranks higher?
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 "grands" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gratis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grands" and "gratis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gracie vs gratis". 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 #364,268 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.