gruyère vs guère, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“gruyère” is an adjective and “guère” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,341
“gruyère” frequency rank: #3,924
“guère” frequency rank: 29265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gruyère	guère
Definition	Féminin singulier de gruyer.	Presque pas ; presque rien.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gruyère and guère apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

gruyère

5 ch

guère

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gruyère is \ɡʁy.jɛʁ\ while guère is \ɡɛʁ\. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gruyère is recorded at frequency rank #25,341, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁy.jɛʁ\. guère is at rank #3,924, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɡɛʁ\.

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 29265, this pair ranks #317,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gruyère vs guère

Shared letters: egruè. Private to "gruyère": y. Private to "guère": -.

"gruyère" · 7 letters · shape CCVVVCV · "guère" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Frequency comparison

gruyère#25,341

guère#3,924

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gruyère" and "guère" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gruyère" is an adjective and "guère" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "gruyère" or "guère"?

"guère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,924 in our French list, against #25,341 for "gruyère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gruyère vs guère

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “gruyère”; for an adverb, it's “guère”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gruyère” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable