Which to use
“gravement” and “grièvement” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,445
- “gravement” frequency rank
- #14,688
- “grièvement” frequency rank
- 22133
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gravement | grièvement |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Avec gravité ; d’une manière composée. | Gravement (en parlant d'une atteinte morale). |
Where the eye mixes gravement and grièvement
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gravement runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVCC) against grièvement's 10 (CCVVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses gravement with grièvement
A purely visual mix-up. gravement (\ɡʁav.mɑ̃\) and grièvement (\ɡʁi.jɛv.mɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gravement is recorded at frequency rank #7,445, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɡʁav.mɑ̃\. grièvement is at rank #14,688, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɡʁi.jɛv.mɑ̃\.
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 22133, this pair ranks #359,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gravement vs grièvement
Shared letters: egmnrtv. Private to "gravement": a. Private to "grièvement": iè.
"gravement" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC · "grièvement" · 10 letters · shape CCVVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gravement ← garvement · ggravement · graevment · graveemnt · gravemennt · gravementt · gravemetn · gravemment
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gravement" and "grièvement" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gravement" or "grièvement"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gravement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grièvement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gravement" and "grièvement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gravement vs gravitent". 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 #359,680 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.