Which to use
“gré” and “gué” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,767
- “gré” frequency rank
- #24,618
- “gué” frequency rank
- 30385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gré | gué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Volonté, caprice, fantaisie. | Endroit d’une rivière, d’un fleuve où l’eau est assez basse et le fond assez ferme pour qu’on puisse traverser à pied. |
Where the eye mixes gré and gué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses gré with gué
A purely visual mix-up. gré (\ɡʁe\) and gué (\ɡe\) 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 - r in “gré” becomes u in “gué”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gré is recorded at frequency rank #5,767, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁe\. gué is at rank #24,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡe\.
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 30385, this pair ranks #310,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gré vs gué
Shared letters: gé. Private to "gré": r. Private to "gué": u.
"gré" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "gué" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gré" and "gué" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "gré" or "gué" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gré" and "gué" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gré" and "gué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #310,663 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.