Which to use
“bailli” and “balls” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,214
- “bailli” frequency rank
- #32,699
- “balls” frequency rank
- 57913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bailli | balls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Officier royal ou seigneurial, au nom duquel la justice se rendait dans l’étendue d’une certaine juridiction (baillie) où il exerce par délégation un pouvoir administratif et militaire, et surtout des attributions judiciaires. | Pluriel de ball. |
Where the eye mixes bailli and balls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bailli vs balls
A purely visual mix-up. bailli (\ba.ji\) and balls (\bɔːlz\) 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 57913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bailli is recorded at frequency rank #25,214, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.ji\. balls is at rank #32,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔːlz\.
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 57913, this pair ranks #112,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bailli vs balls
Shared letters: abl. Private to "bailli": i. Private to "balls": s.
"bailli" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "balls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bailli" and "balls" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "bailli" or "balls" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bailli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "balls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bailli" and "balls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balls vs banals". 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 #112,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.