Which to use
“griffes” and “grilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,588
- “griffes” frequency rank
- #13,606
- “grilles” frequency rank
- 26194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | griffes | grilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de griffe. | Pluriel de grille. |
Where the eye mixes griffes and grilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. griffes and grilles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: griffes vs grilles
A purely visual mix-up. griffes (\ɡʁif\) and grilles (\ɡʁij\) 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 26194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
griffes is recorded at frequency rank #12,588, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁif\. grilles is at rank #13,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁij\.
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 26194, this pair ranks #336,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of griffes vs grilles
Shared letters: egirs. Private to "griffes": f. Private to "grilles": l.
"griffes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "grilles" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "griffes" and "grilles" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "griffes" vs "grilles" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "griffes" and "grilles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "griffes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "griffes" and "grilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grilles vs grillons". 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 #336,566 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.