gravesvsgravuresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,139
“graves” frequency rank
#13,179
“gravures” frequency rank
16318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graves gravures
Definition Dans le sud-ouest de la France, terrain détritique de l’ère tertiaire constitué de graviers fluviatiles. Pluriel de gravure.

Where the eye mixes graves and gravures

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. graves runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against gravures's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
graves
8 ch
gravures

Visual trap between graves and gravures

A purely visual mix-up. graves (\ɡʁav\) and gravures (\ɡʁa.vyʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

graves is recorded at frequency rank #3,139, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁav\. gravures is at rank #13,179, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁa.vyʁ\.

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 16318, this pair ranks #388,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of graves vs gravures

Shared letters: aegrsv. Private to "graves": -. Private to "gravures": u.

"graves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "gravures" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graves ← garves · ggraves · graevs · gravess · gravse · gravves · grraves · grvaes
  • gravures ← garvures · ggravures · grauvres · gravrues · gravuers · gravuress · gravurres · gravurse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "graves" and "gravures" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁav\ versus \ɡʁa.vyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "graves" vs "gravures" - which ranks higher?
"graves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,139 in our French list, against #13,179 for "gravures". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "graves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gravures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "graves" and "gravures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "granulés vs gravures". 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 #388,368 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