gravelvsgrèvesConfusable pair

Which to use

“gravel” and “grèves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,716
“gravel” frequency rank
#10,333
“grèves” frequency rank
44049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gravel grèves
Definition Vélo adapté sur route ainsi que sur sentiers, pistes, chemins. Pluriel de grève.

Where the eye mixes gravel and grèves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gravel
6 ch
grèves

Look-alike desk: gravel vs grèves

A purely visual mix-up. gravel (\ɡʁa.vɛl\) and grèves (\ɡʁɛv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gravel is recorded at frequency rank #33,716, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁa.vɛl\. 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 44049, this pair ranks #213,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gravel vs grèves

Shared letters: egrv. Private to "gravel": al. Private to "grèves": .

"gravel" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "grèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gravelgarvel · ggravel · graevl · gravell · gravle · gravvel · grravel · grvael

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gravel" and "grèves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁa.vɛl\ versus \ɡʁɛv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "gravel" or "grèves" show up more?
"grèves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,333 in our French list, against #33,716 for "gravel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "gravel" 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 #213,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gravel" and "grèves" 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 #213,427 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