baisesvsbassesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#30,484
“baises” frequency rank
#6,588
“basses” frequency rank
37072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baises basses
Definition Pluriel de baise. Bancs de sable, ou rochers cachés sous l'eau.

Where the eye mixes baises and basses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
baises
6 ch
basses

Why the eye confuses baises with basses

A purely visual mix-up. baises (\bɛz\) and basses (\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 a single letter - i in “baises” becomes s in “basses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37072, 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\. basses is at rank #6,588, 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 37072, this pair ranks #265,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baises vs basses

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

"baises" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "basses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baisesabises · basies · bbaises · biases
  • bassesabsses · bassess · bassse · bbasses · bsases

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "baises" and "basses" be used interchangeably?
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 "basses"?
"basses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,588 in our French list, against #30,484 for "baises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "basses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baises" and "basses" 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 #265,085 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