greffevsgriffesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,668
“greffe” frequency rank
#12,588
“griffes” frequency rank
22256
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature greffe griffes
Definition Bureau d’un tribunal où sont délivrées et conservées les minutes des jugements, des arrêts, celles de divers actes de procédure, comme enquêtes, rapports d’experts, etc. et où se font certaines déclarations, certains dépôts. Pluriel de griffe.

Where the eye mixes greffe and griffes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. greffe runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against griffes's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
greffe
7 ch
griffes

Look-alike desk: greffe vs griffes

A purely visual mix-up. greffe (\ɡʁɛf\) and griffes (\ɡʁif\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

greffe is recorded at frequency rank #9,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛf\. griffes is at rank #12,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁif\.

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 22256, this pair ranks #358,999 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of greffe vs griffes

Shared letters: efgr. Private to "greffe": -. Private to "griffes": is.

"greffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "griffes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • greffe ← gerffe · ggreffe · grefe · grefef · grfefe · grreffe · rgeffe
  • griffes ← ggriffes · girffes · grfifes · grifefs · grifes · griffess · griffse · grriffes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "greffe" and "griffes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁɛf\ versus \ɡʁif\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "greffe" or "griffes"?
"greffe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,668 in our French list, against #12,588 for "griffes". 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 "greffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "griffes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #358,999 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "greffe" and "griffes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greffe vs greffon". 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 #358,999 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