Which to use
“bactérie” and “batteries” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,079
- “bactérie” frequency rank
- #6,468
- “batteries” frequency rank
- 23547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bactérie | batteries |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Micro-organisme unicellulaire et sans noyau compartimenté ni organites. | Pluriel de batterie. |
Where the eye mixes bactérie and batteries
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bactérie runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against batteries's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bactérie with batteries
A purely visual mix-up. bactérie (\bak.te.ʁi\) and batteries (\ba.tʁi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23547, 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\. batteries is at rank #6,468, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.tʁi\.
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 23547, this pair ranks #351,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bactérie vs batteries
Shared letters: abeirt. Private to "bactérie": cé. Private to "batteries": s.
"bactérie" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "batteries" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- batteries ← abtteries · bateries · batetries · batteires · battereis · batteriess · batterise · batterries
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bactérie" and "batteries" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "bactérie" or "batteries" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bactérie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "batteries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #351,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bactérie" and "batteries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bactérie vs bactéries". 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 #351,860 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.