gratuitvsgravitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gratuit is a adjective, gravit is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gratuit” is an adjective and “gravit” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,080
“gratuit” frequency rank
#43,965
“gravit” frequency rank
46045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gratuit gravit
Definition Que l’on donne librement sans obligation. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de gravir.

Where the eye mixes gratuit and gravit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gratuit
6 ch
gravit

Why the eye confuses gratuit with gravit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gratuit is \ɡʁa.tɥi\ while gravit 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gratuit is recorded at frequency rank #2,080, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.tɥi\. gravit is at rank #43,965, 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 46045, this pair ranks #198,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gratuit vs gravit

Shared letters: agirt. Private to "gratuit": u. Private to "gravit": v.

"gratuit" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "gravit" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gratuitgartuit · ggratuit · gratiut · grattuit · gratuitt · gratuti · grautit · grratuit
  • gravitgarvit · ggravit · graivt · gravitt · gravti · gravvit · grravit · grvait

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gratuit" and "gravit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gratuit" is an adjective and "gravit" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gratuit" or "gravit"?
"gratuit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,080 in our French list, against #43,965 for "gravit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gratuit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gravit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gratuit" and "gravit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gracie vs gravit". 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 #198,052 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list