Which to use
“gratin” is a noun and “gratos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,028
- “gratin” frequency rank
- #20,458
- “gratos” frequency rank
- 41486
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gratin | gratos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manière d’apprêter certains mets avec de la chapelure de pain, du fromage ou de la crème. | Gratuit. |
Where the eye mixes gratin and gratos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gratin and gratos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between gratin and gratos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gratin is \ɡʁa.tɛ̃\ while gratos is \ɡʁa.tos\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gratin is recorded at frequency rank #21,028, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁa.tɛ̃\. gratos is at rank #20,458, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.tos\.
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 41486, this pair ranks #232,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gratin vs gratos
Shared letters: agrt. Private to "gratin": in. Private to "gratos": os.
"gratin" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "gratos" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gratin" for "gratos" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gratin" or "gratos"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gratin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gratos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gratin" and "gratos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gratin vs gratton". 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 #232,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.