grisvsgrossTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,539
“gris” frequency rank
#22,579
“gross” frequency rank
26118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gris gross
Definition De couleur grise, entre le blanc et le noir. Variante orthographique de groß.

Where the eye mixes gris and gross

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gris
5 ch
gross

Look-alike desk: gris vs gross

A purely visual mix-up. gris (\ɡʁi\) and gross (\ɡʀoːs\) 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 26118, 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\. gross is at rank #22,579, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʀoːs\.

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 26118, this pair ranks #337,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gris vs gross

Shared letters: grs. Private to "gris": i. Private to "gross": o.

"gris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grisggris · girs · griss · grris · grsi · rgis
  • grossggross · gorss · grross · grsos · rgoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gris" and "gross" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁi\ versus \ɡʀoːs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gris" vs "gross" - which ranks higher?
"gris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,539 in our French list, against #22,579 for "gross". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #337,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gris" and "gross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gross vs grow". 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 #337,011 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