Which to use
“griffe” and “grippe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,722
- “griffe” frequency rank
- #7,836
- “grippe” frequency rank
- 25558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | griffe | grippe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ongle crochu, pointu et mobile de certains animaux, tels que le tigre, le lion, le chat, etc., ou d’un oiseau de proie, comme l’épervier, le faucon, etc. | Prise, emprise. |
Where the eye mixes griffe and grippe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. griffe and grippe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: griffe vs grippe
A purely visual mix-up. griffe (\ɡʁif\) and grippe (\ɡʁip\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
griffe is recorded at frequency rank #17,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁif\. grippe is at rank #7,836, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁip\.
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 25558, this pair ranks #340,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of griffe vs grippe
Shared letters: egir. Private to "griffe": f. Private to "grippe": p.
"griffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "grippe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "griffe" for "grippe" ever safe?
Frequency check: "griffe" vs "grippe" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "griffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grippe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "griffe" and "grippe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graff vs griffe". 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 #340,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.