Which to use
“gratis” is an adverb and “gravi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,748
- “gratis” frequency rank
- #36,420
- “gravi” frequency rank
- 57168
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gratis | gravi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sans qu’il en coûte rien, gratuitement. | Participe passé masculin singulier de gravir. |
Where the eye mixes gratis and gravi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gratis runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against gravi's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: gratis vs gravi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gratis is \ɡʁa.tis\ while gravi is \ɡʁa.vi\. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gratis is recorded at frequency rank #20,748, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɡʁa.tis\. gravi is at rank #36,420, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡʁa.vi\.
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 57168, this pair ranks #116,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gratis vs gravi
Shared letters: agir. Private to "gratis": st. Private to "gravi": v.
"gratis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "gravi" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gratis" and "gravi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "gratis" or "gravi" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gratis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gravi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #116,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gratis" and "gravi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ghazi vs gravi". 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 #116,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.