Which to use
“gratter” is a verb and “gravier” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,587
- “gratter” frequency rank
- #19,848
- “gravier” frequency rank
- 32435
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gratter | gravier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Racler pour nettoyer, pour effacer ou pour polir. | Roche détritique à éléments assez gros (sables grossiers et cailloux), d’origine fluviatile ou littorale. |
Where the eye mixes gratter and gravier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gratter (CCVCCVC) and gravier (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gratter and gravier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gratter is \ɡʁa.te\ while gravier is \ɡʁa.vje\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gratter is recorded at frequency rank #12,587, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡʁa.te\. gravier is at rank #19,848, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁa.vje\.
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 32435, this pair ranks #297,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gratter vs gravier
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "gratter": t. Private to "gravier": iv.
"gratter" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "gravier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gratter" and "gravier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gratter" or "gravier"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gratter" and "gravier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gratter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gravier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gratter" and "gravier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gracie vs gravier". 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 #297,303 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.