grossesvsgrossiersWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,367
“grosses” frequency rank
#29,373
“grossiers” frequency rank
31740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grosses grossiers
Definition Féminin pluriel de gros. Masculin pluriel de grossier.

Where the eye mixes grosses and grossiers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. grosses runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against grossiers's 9 (CCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
grosses
9 ch
grossiers

Look-alike desk: grosses vs grossiers

A purely visual mix-up. grosses (\ɡʁos\) and grossiers (\ɡʁɔ.sje\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grosses is recorded at frequency rank #2,367, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁos\. grossiers is at rank #29,373, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɔ.sje\.

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 31740, this pair ranks #301,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grosses vs grossiers

Shared letters: egors. Private to "grosses": -. Private to "grossiers": i.

"grosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "grossiers" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grosses ← ggrosses · gorsses · grosess · grossess · grossse · grrosses · grsoses · rgosses
  • grossiers ← ggrossiers · gorssiers · grosiers · grosisers · grosseirs · grossierrs · grossierss · grossiesr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grosses" and "grossiers" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁos\ versus \ɡʁɔ.sje\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "grosses" or "grossiers" show up more?
"grosses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,367 in our French list, against #29,373 for "grossiers". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grosses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grossiers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grosses" and "grossiers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grossiers vs grossis". 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 #301,858 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