basse

\bɑs\

/\bɑs\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“basse” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,162) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#2,162
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ligne mélodique qui contient les notes les plus graves.

Corpus desk

Index FR-basse · basse · French

basse · rank #2,162 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,162
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH auparavant

Nearest frequency peer: auparavant (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « basse »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « basse » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

basse vs boss
60% similar
basse vs bats
60% similar
basse vs bave
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for basse
PropertyValue
Headwordbasse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɑs\
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,162
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « basse »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).bassese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « auparavant » (#2,161), « académie » (#2,160), « Brésil » (#2,164). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « basse » est au #2,162. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for basse is neighbouring look-alikes ("boss", "bats", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \bɑs\. Frequency #2,162 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for basse, with forms such as "absse", "bbasse", and "bsase". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "boss", "bats", "bave", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is basse, spelled B-A-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ligne mélodique qui contient les notes les plus graves.
  2. 2
    Note la plus grave d'un accord.
  3. 3
    Voix propre à chanter la partie de basse.
  4. 4
    Personne qui a une voix de basse.
  5. 5
    Violoncelle, nommé basse, parce qu’il joue le plus souvent la basse dans les symphonies et les quatuors ou trios. Ou autre instrument, comme un cuivre, qui sert à exécuter la basse dans les morceaux à plusieurs parties.
  6. 6
    Personne qui joue de cet instrument.
  7. 7
    Dans un orchestre de jazz, ellipse fréquemment utilisée pour nommer la contrebasse.
  8. 8
    Abréviation de guitare basse.
  9. 9
    Grosses cordes de certains instruments.
  10. 10
    Banc de rochers ou de corail dangereux pour la navigation car situé proche de la surface de la mer sans pour autant affleurer.
  11. 11
    Vallée, surtout perpendiculaire à une vallée principale.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how basse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Lulli fut le premier en France qui fit des basses.
  2. Composer la basse d’un air.

This word in other languages

bass(English)bajo(Español)Basssänger(Deutsch)baixo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • absse
  • bbasse
  • bsase

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of basse - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

absse2bbasse1bsase2
Edit distance from "basse"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "basse"?
"basse" is spelled B-A-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bɑs\.
What does "basse" mean?
As a noun, "basse" means: Ligne mélodique qui contient les notes les plus graves.
What words are commonly confused with "basse"?
"basse" is commonly confused with "boss", "bats", "bave". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "basse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "basse" is \bɑs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "basse" come from?
"basse" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "basse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

soeur#2,151haine#2,177monte#2,185James#2,131

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list