baisesvsbasseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,484
“baises” frequency rank
#2,162
“basse” frequency rank
32646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baises basse
Definition Pluriel de baise. Ligne mélodique qui contient les notes les plus graves.

Where the eye mixes baises and basse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
baises
5 ch
basse

Why the eye confuses baises with basse

A purely visual mix-up. baises (\bɛz\) and basse (\bɑs\) 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 32646, 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\. basse is at rank #2,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɑs\.

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 32646, this pair ranks #295,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baises vs basse

Shared letters: abes. Private to "baises": i. Private to "basse": -.

"baises" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "basse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baisesabises · basies · bbaises · biases
  • basseabsse · bbasse · bsase

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baises" for "basse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bɛz\ versus \bɑs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "baises" or "basse"?
"basse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,162 in our French list, against #30,484 for "baises". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "basse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baises" and "basse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baises 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 #295,906 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