gravevsgravéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“grave” and “gravée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#965
“grave” frequency rank
#17,439
“gravée” frequency rank
18404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grave gravée
Definition Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. Féminin singulier de gravé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set grave and gravée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
grave
6 ch
gravée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. grave (\ɡʁav\) and gravée (\ɡʁa.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grave is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\. gravée is at rank #17,439, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.ve\.

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 18404, this pair ranks #378,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grave vs gravée

Shared letters: aegrv. Private to "grave": -. Private to "gravée": é.

"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "gravée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gravegarve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequency comparison

grave#965
gravée#17,439

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grave" and "gravée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁav\ versus \ɡʁa.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grave" or "gravée"?
"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our French list, against #17,439 for "gravée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering grave vs gravée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “grave” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list