Which to use
“grave” is an adjective and “grèves” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #965
- “grave” frequency rank
- #10,333
- “grèves” frequency rank
- 11298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grave | grèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. | Pluriel de grève. |
Where the eye mixes grave and grèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. grave runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against grèves's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between grave and grèves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grave is \ɡʁav\ while grèves is \ɡʁɛv\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grave is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\. grèves is at rank #10,333, 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 11298, this pair ranks #409,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grave vs grèves
Shared letters: egrv. Private to "grave": a. Private to "grèves": sè.
"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- grave ← garve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grave" and "grèves" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "grave" or "grèves" show up more?
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 "grèves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grave" and "grèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Greek vs grèves". 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 #409,673 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.