grisvsgrisesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,539
“gris” frequency rank
#19,036
“grises” frequency rank
22575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gris grises
Definition De couleur grise, entre le blanc et le noir. Féminin pluriel de gris.

Where the eye mixes gris and grises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gris
6 ch
grises

Look-alike desk: gris vs grises

A purely visual mix-up. gris (\ɡʁi\) and grises (\ɡʁiz\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “gris” sits inside “grises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gris is recorded at frequency rank #3,539, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁi\. grises is at rank #19,036, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁiz\.

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 22575, this pair ranks #357,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gris vs grises

Shared letters: girs. Private to "gris": -. Private to "grises": e.

"gris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grises" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grisggris · girs · griss · grris · grsi · rgis
  • grisesggrises · girses · griess · grisess · grisses · grrises · grsies · rgises

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gris" and "grises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁi\ versus \ɡʁiz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gris" vs "grises" - which ranks higher?
"gris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,539 in our French list, against #19,036 for "grises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "gris" and "grises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #357,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gris" and "grises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grises vs grisons". 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 #357,232 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