Which to use
“bactérie” and “bactéries” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,079
- “bactérie” frequency rank
- #8,811
- “bactéries” frequency rank
- 25890
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bactérie | bactéries |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Micro-organisme unicellulaire et sans noyau compartimenté ni organites. | Pluriel de bactérie. |
Same sound, different letters: bactérie vs bactéries
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. bactérie runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against bactéries's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - bactérie and bactéries
This is the hard kind. bactérie and bactéries are pronounced identically (\bak.te.ʁi\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bactérie” sits inside “bactéries”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25890, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bactérie is recorded at frequency rank #17,079, classified as anoun, pronounced \bak.te.ʁi\. bactéries is at rank #8,811, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bak.te.ʁi\.
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 25890, this pair ranks #338,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bactérie vs bactéries
Shared letters: abceirté. Private to "bactérie": -. Private to "bactéries": s.
"bactérie" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "bactéries" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bactérie" for "bactéries" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bactérie" vs "bactéries" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"bactérie" and "bactéries" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "bactérie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bactéries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bactérie" and "bactéries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bactérie vs batteries". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #338,293 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.