Which to use
“grèves” and “grues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,333
- “grèves” frequency rank
- #24,989
- “grues” frequency rank
- 35322
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grèves | grues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de grève. | Pluriel de grue. |
Where the eye mixes grèves and grues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. grèves runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against grues's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: grèves vs grues
A purely visual mix-up. grèves (\ɡʁɛv\) and grues (\ɡʁy\) 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 35322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grèves is recorded at frequency rank #10,333, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛv\. grues is at rank #24,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁy\.
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 35322, this pair ranks #277,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grèves vs grues
Shared letters: egrs. Private to "grèves": vè. Private to "grues": u.
"grèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- grues ← ggrues · greus · grrues · gruess · gruse · gures · rgues
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grèves" for "grues" ever safe?
Frequency check: "grèves" vs "grues" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "grèves" and "grues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grèves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grèves" and "grues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gruber vs grues". 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 #277,573 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.