backvsbaraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,632
“back” frequency rank
#44,884
“bara” frequency rank
50516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature back bara
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’impératif à la forme active de backen. Travailler.

Where the eye mixes back and bara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
back
4 ch
bara

Look-alike desk: back vs bara

A purely visual mix-up. back (\bak\) and bara (\ba.ʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

back is recorded at frequency rank #5,632, classified as averb, pronounced \bak\. bara is at rank #44,884, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ʁa\.

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 50516, this pair ranks #162,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of back vs bara

Shared letters: ab. Private to "back": ck. Private to "bara": r.

"back" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • backabck · bacck · backk · bakc · bback · bcak
  • baraabra · baar · bbara · braa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "back" and "bara" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bak\ versus \ba.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "back" or "bara"?
"back" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,632 in our French list, against #44,884 for "bara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "back" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #162,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "back" and "bara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bara vs bury". 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 #162,056 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