bainsvsbinWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bains is a noun, bin is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bains” is a noun and “bin” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,210
“bains” frequency rank
#10,119
“bin” frequency rank
14329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bains bin
Definition Appartements destinés aux bains. Variante de bien.

Same sound, different letters: bains vs bin

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.

5 ch
bains
3 ch
bin

Homophone desk: bains vs bin

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: bains and bin carry the same recorded pronunciation, \bɛ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadverb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bains is recorded at frequency rank #4,210, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛ̃\. bin is at rank #10,119, tagged as anadv, pronounced \bɛ̃\.

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 14329, this pair ranks #397,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bains vs bin

Shared letters: bin. Private to "bains": as. Private to "bin": -.

"bains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bainsabins · bainns · bainss · baisn · banis · bbains · bians

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bains" for "bin" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bains" is a noun and "bin" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bains" or "bin"?
"bains" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,210 in our French list, against #10,119 for "bin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #397,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bains" and "bin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ber vs bin". 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 #397,166 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