Which to use
“grave” is an adjective and “grue” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #965
- “grave” frequency rank
- #16,633
- “grue” frequency rank
- 17598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grave | grue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. | Gros oiseau voyageur, de l’ordre des Échassiers, qui vole fort haut et par bandes. |
Where the eye mixes grave and grue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between grave and grue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grave is \ɡʁav\ while grue is \ɡʁy\. 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 17598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grave is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\. grue is at rank #16,633, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁy\.
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 17598, this pair ranks #382,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grave vs grue
Shared letters: egr. Private to "grave": av. Private to "grue": u.
"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grave" and "grue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "grave" or "grue"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "grave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grave" and "grue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gruber vs grue". 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 #382,391 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.