Which to use
“bagne” and “bonne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,066
- “bagne” frequency rank
- #167
- “bonne” frequency rank
- 28233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bagne | bonne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lieu de travaux forcés ; lieu où l’on tenait les forçats à la chaîne, où l’on renfermait les forçats après le travail. | Servante dans une maison bourgeoise, dans un hôtel, etc., fille chargée de soigner un enfant. |
Where the eye mixes bagne and bonne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bagne with bonne
A purely visual mix-up. bagne (\baɲ\) and bonne (\bɔn\) 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 28233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bagne is recorded at frequency rank #28,066, classified as anoun, pronounced \baɲ\. bonne is at rank #167, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔn\.
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 28233, this pair ranks #324,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bagne vs bonne
Shared letters: ben. Private to "bagne": ag. Private to "bonne": o.
"bagne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "bonne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bagne" and "bonne" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bagne" or "bonne"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bagne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bonne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bagne" and "bonne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bagne vs Byrne". 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 #324,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.