Which to use
“Babylon” is a name and “bâillon” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,662
- “Babylon” frequency rank
- #42,208
- “bâillon” frequency rank
- 80870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Babylon | bâillon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Babylone. | Morceau de bois, de fer, etc., qu’on met de force entre les mâchoires d’une personne pour l’empêcher de parler et de crier, ou dans la gueule d’un animal pour l’empêcher de mordre ou de faire du bruit. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Babylon and bâillon apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Babylon and bâillon form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Babylon is recorded at frequency rank #38,662, classified as aname, pronounced \ˈbaː.bi.ˌlɔn\. bâillon is at rank #42,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɑ.jɔ̃\.
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 80870, this pair ranks #19,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Babylon" and "bâillon" be used interchangeably?
Remembering Babylon vs bâillon
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Babylon”; for a noun, it's “bâillon”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Babylon” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable