Which to use
“gré” is a noun and “guère” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,767
- “gré” frequency rank
- #3,924
- “guère” frequency rank
- 9691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gré | guère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Volonté, caprice, fantaisie. | Presque pas ; presque rien. |
Where the eye mixes gré and guère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between gré and guère
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gré is \ɡʁe\ while guère is \ɡɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9691, 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\. guère is at rank #3,924, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɡɛʁ\.
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 9691, this pair ranks #415,775 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gré vs guère
Shared letters: gr. Private to "gré": é. Private to "guère": euè.
"gré" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "guère" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gré" for "guère" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "gré" or "guère" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "gré" and "guère" 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 "guère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,775 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gré" and "guère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gré". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #415,775 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.