gravevsGrèceConfusable pair

Quick tell: grave is a adjective, Grèce is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grave” is an adjective and “Grèce” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#965
“grave” frequency rank
#2,619
“Grèce” frequency rank
3584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grave Grèce
Definition Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. Pays habité par les Grecs (Grèce actuelle, Bulgarie, Asie mineure, Chypre, Grande-Grèce, etc.)

Where the eye mixes grave and Grèce

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grave
5 ch
Grèce

Visual trap between grave and Grèce

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grave is \ɡʁav\ while Grèce is \ɡʁɛs\. 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 (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grave is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\. Grèce is at rank #2,619, tagged as aname, pronounced \ɡʁɛs\.

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 3584, this pair ranks #433,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grave vs Grèce

Shared letters: egr. Private to "grave": av. Private to "Grèce": .

"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Grèce" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grave" and "Grèce" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grave" is an adjective and "Grèce" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "grave" vs "Grèce" - which ranks higher?
"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our French list, against #2,619 for "Grèce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "grave" and "Grèce" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grèce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #433,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grave" and "Grèce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs Grèce". 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 #433,676 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