bacsvsbakTell them apart

Quick tell: bacs is a noun, bak is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bacs” is a noun and “bak” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,308
“bacs” frequency rank
#46,599
“bak” frequency rank
61907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bacs bak
Definition Pluriel de bac. Forme mutée de pak par adoucissement (p → b).

Same sound, different letters: bacs vs bak

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.

4 ch
bacs
3 ch
bak

Ear matches; page differs - bacs and bak

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: bacs and bak carry the same recorded pronunciation, \bak\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bacs is recorded at frequency rank #15,308, classified as anoun, pronounced \bak\. bak is at rank #46,599, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈbakː\.

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 61907, this pair ranks #89,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bacs vs bak

Shared letters: ab. Private to "bacs": cs. Private to "bak": k.

"bacs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bak" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bacsabcs · baccs · bacss · basc · bbacs · bcas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bacs" for "bak" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bacs" is a noun and "bak" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bacs" or "bak"?
"bacs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,308 in our French list, against #46,599 for "bak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "bacs" / "bak". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bacs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bak" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bacs" and "bak" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bak vs ber". 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 #89,817 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