Which to use
“gross” and “grosso” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,579
- “gross” frequency rank
- #18,765
- “grosso” frequency rank
- 41344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gross | grosso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante orthographique de groß. | Gros, épais. |
Where the eye mixes gross and grosso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gross runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against grosso's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between gross and grosso
A purely visual mix-up. gross (\ɡʀoːs\) and grosso (\ˈɡrɔs.so\) 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 extra letter(s) - “gross” sits inside “grosso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gross is recorded at frequency rank #22,579, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʀoːs\. grosso is at rank #18,765, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈɡrɔs.so\.
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 41344, this pair ranks #233,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gross vs grosso
Shared letters: gors. Private to "gross": -. Private to "grosso": -.
"gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "grosso" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gross" and "grosso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "gross" vs "grosso" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gross" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grosso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gross" and "grosso" 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 #233,779 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.