Which to use
“graves” and “grèves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,139
- “graves” frequency rank
- #10,333
- “grèves” frequency rank
- 13472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | graves | grèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans le sud-ouest de la France, terrain détritique de l’ère tertiaire constitué de graviers fluviatiles. | Pluriel de grève. |
Where the eye mixes graves and grèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. graves and grèves follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses graves with grèves
A purely visual mix-up. graves (\ɡʁav\) 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 differ by a single letter - a in “graves” becomes è in “grèves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13472, 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\. 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 13472, this pair ranks #400,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of graves vs grèves
Shared letters: egrsv. Private to "graves": a. Private to "grèves": è.
"graves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- graves ← garves · ggraves · graevs · gravess · gravse · gravves · grraves · grvaes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "graves" for "grèves" ever safe?
Which is more common, "graves" or "grèves"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "graves" and "grèves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "graves" 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 #400,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "graves" and "grèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Greek vs grèves". 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 #400,893 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.