grosvsgroupsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gros is a adjective, groups is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gros” is an adjective and “groups” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#315
“gros” frequency rank
#42,369
“groups” frequency rank
42684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gros groups
Definition Qui a beaucoup de circonférence ou de volume. Pluriel de group.

Where the eye mixes gros and groups

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

4 ch
gros
6 ch
groups

Why the eye confuses gros with groups

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gros is \ɡʁo\ while groups is \ɡʁup\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gros is recorded at frequency rank #315, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁo\. groups is at rank #42,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁup\.

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 42684, this pair ranks #223,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gros vs groups

Shared letters: gors. Private to "gros": -. Private to "groups": pu.

"gros" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "groups" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grosggros · gors · grros · grso · rgos
  • groupsggroups · gorups · gropus · groupps · groupss · grousp · grroups · gruops

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gros" and "groups" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gros" is an adjective and "groups" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "gros" or "groups" show up more?
"gros" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #315 in our French list, against #42,369 for "groups". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gros" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "groups" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gros" and "groups" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "groupée vs groups". 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 #223,733 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