Which to use
“grue” and “gui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,633
- “grue” frequency rank
- #21,335
- “gui” frequency rank
- 37968
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grue | gui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gros oiseau voyageur, de l’ordre des Échassiers, qui vole fort haut et par bandes. | Plante verte hémiparasite et épiphyte à tiges articulées dichotomiques et à baies globuleuses qui croissent sur les branches de certains arbres, grâce à leur suçoir conique (ou haustorium) et dont les graines collantes sont disséminées par divers oiseaux. |
Where the eye mixes grue and gui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grue with gui
A purely visual mix-up. grue (\ɡʁy\) and gui (\ɡi\) 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 37968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grue is recorded at frequency rank #16,633, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁy\. gui is at rank #21,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡi\.
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 37968, this pair ranks #258,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grue vs gui
Shared letters: gu. Private to "grue": er. Private to "gui": i.
"grue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "gui" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- grue ← ggrue · greu · grrue · gure · rgue
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grue" and "gui" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "grue" or "gui"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "grue" and "gui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #258,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grue" and "gui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gui". 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 #258,673 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.