baisesvsbaissaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: baises is a noun, baissa is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“baises” is a noun and “baissa” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,484
“baises” frequency rank
#48,355
“baissa” frequency rank
78839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baises baissa
Definition Pluriel de baise. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de baisser.

Where the eye mixes baises and baissa

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

6 ch
baises
6 ch
baissa

Why the eye confuses baises with baissa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: baises is \bɛz\ while baissa is \bɛ.sa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baises is recorded at frequency rank #30,484, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛz\. baissa is at rank #48,355, tagged as averb, pronounced \bɛ.sa\.

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 78839, this pair ranks #24,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of baises vs baissa

Shared letters: abis. Private to "baises": e. Private to "baissa": -.

"baises" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "baissa" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baises ← abises · basies · bbaises · biases
  • baissa ← abissa · baisa · baisas · basisa · bbaissa · biassa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baises" for "baissa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "baises" is a noun and "baissa" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "baises" or "baissa"?
"baises" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,484 in our French list, against #48,355 for "baissa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "baises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "baissa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baises" and "baissa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baisez vs baissa". 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 #24,754 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