baisersvsbalisesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,972
“baisers” frequency rank
#20,370
“balises” frequency rank
34342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baisers balises
Definition Pluriel de baiser. Pluriel de balise.

Where the eye mixes baisers and balises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
baisers
7 ch
balises

Why the eye confuses baisers with balises

A purely visual mix-up. baisers (\bɛ.ze\) and balises (\ba.liz\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baisers is recorded at frequency rank #13,972, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛ.ze\. balises is at rank #20,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.liz\.

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 34342, this pair ranks #284,501 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baisers vs balises

Shared letters: abeis. Private to "baisers": r. Private to "balises": l.

"baisers" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "balises" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baisersabisers · baiesrs · baiserrs · baiserss · baisres · baissers · basiers · bbaisers
  • balisesablises · bailses · baliess · balisess · balisses · ballises · balsies · bbalises

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "baisers" and "balises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bɛ.ze\ versus \ba.liz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "baisers" vs "balises" - which ranks higher?
"baisers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,972 in our French list, against #20,370 for "balises". 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 "baisers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "balises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #284,501 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baisers" and "balises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baisez vs balises". 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 #284,501 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