Which to use
“grave” is an adjective and “grève” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #965
- “grave” frequency rank
- #2,479
- “grève” frequency rank
- 3444
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grave | grève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. | Terrain uni et sablonneux le long de la mer ou d’une grande rivière. |
Where the eye mixes grave and grève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grave with grève
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grave is \ɡʁav\ while grève is \ɡʁɛv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “grave” becomes è in “grève”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grave is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\. grève is at rank #2,479, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛv\.
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 3444, this pair ranks #434,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grave vs grève
Shared letters: egrv. Private to "grave": a. Private to "grève": è.
"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grève" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- grave ← garve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grave" for "grève" ever safe?
Which is more common, "grave" or "grève"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "grave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grave" and "grève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs grève". 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 #434,015 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.