Which to use
“graver” is a verb and “grèves” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,957
- “graver” frequency rank
- #10,333
- “grèves” frequency rank
- 32290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | graver | grèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tracer quelque trait, quelque figure avec le burin, avec le ciseau, sur du bois, sur du cuivre, sur du marbre, etc. | Pluriel de grève. |
Where the eye mixes graver and grèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. graver and grèves follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between graver and grèves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: graver is \ɡʁa.ve\ while grèves is \ɡʁɛv\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
graver is recorded at frequency rank #21,957, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡʁa.ve\. 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 32290, this pair ranks #298,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of graver vs grèves
Shared letters: egrv. Private to "graver": a. Private to "grèves": sè.
"graver" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- graver ← garver · ggraver · graevr · graverr · gravre · gravver · grraver · grvaer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "graver" and "grèves" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "graver" or "grèves" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "graver" 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 #298,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "graver" and "grèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graver vs Gruber". 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 #298,213 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.