baillevsbasileWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,665
“baille” frequency rank
#20,933
“basile” frequency rank
59598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baille basile
Definition Demi-futaille à un seul fond, en forme de baquet, qui sert à divers usages. Inclinaison du fer d’un rabot, d’une varlope.

Where the eye mixes baille and basile

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. baille (CVVCCV) and basile (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
baille
6 ch
basile

Look-alike desk: baille vs basile

A purely visual mix-up. baille (\baj\) and basile (\ba.sil\) 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 59598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baille is recorded at frequency rank #38,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \baj\. basile is at rank #20,933, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.sil\.

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 59598, this pair ranks #102,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of baille vs basile

Shared letters: abeil. Private to "baille": -. Private to "basile": s.

"baille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "basile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baille ← abille · baile · bailel · balile · bbaille · bialle
  • basile ← absile · baisle · basiel · basille · baslie · bassile · bbasile · bsaile

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "baille" and "basile" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baj\ versus \ba.sil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "baille" vs "basile" - which ranks higher?
"basile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,933 in our French list, against #38,665 for "baille". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "baille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "basile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baille" and "basile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baille vs brailler". 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 #102,251 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