Which to use
“grès” and “gué” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,976
- “grès” frequency rank
- #24,618
- “gué” frequency rank
- 37594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grès | gué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Roche détritique formée par l’agglomération de nombreux petits grains unis par un ciment naturel de composition variable (siliceux, calcaire, etc.). | 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 grès and gué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grès with gué
A purely visual mix-up. grès (\ɡʁɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grès is recorded at frequency rank #12,976, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛ\. 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 37594, this pair ranks #261,395 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grès vs gué
Shared letters: g. Private to "grès": rsè. Private to "gué": ué.
"grès" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "gué" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grès" for "gué" ever safe?
Frequency check: "grès" vs "gué" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "grès" and "gué" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grès" 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 #261,395 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grès" and "gué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #261,395 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.