Which to use
“gravée” is an adjective and “gravel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,439
- “gravée” frequency rank
- #33,716
- “gravel” frequency rank
- 51155
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gravée | gravel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de gravé. | Vélo adapté sur route ainsi que sur sentiers, pistes, chemins. |
Where the eye mixes gravée and gravel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gravée (CCVCVV) and gravel (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gravée and gravel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gravée is \ɡʁa.ve\ while gravel is \ɡʁa.vɛl\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gravée is recorded at frequency rank #17,439, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.ve\. gravel is at rank #33,716, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁa.vɛl\.
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 51155, this pair ranks #157,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gravée vs gravel
Shared letters: aegrv. Private to "gravée": é. Private to "gravel": l.
"gravée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "gravel" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gravel ← garvel · ggravel · graevl · gravell · gravle · gravvel · grravel · grvael
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gravée" for "gravel" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "gravée" or "gravel" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gravée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gravel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gravée" and "gravel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gravel vs gravit". 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 #157,155 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.