Which to use
“baissent” and “basent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,629
- “baissent” frequency rank
- #30,915
- “basent” frequency rank
- 48544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | baissent | basent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe baisser. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe baser. |
Where the eye mixes baissent and basent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. baissent runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCC) against basent's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses baissent with basent
A purely visual mix-up. baissent (\bɛs\) and basent (\baz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
baissent is recorded at frequency rank #17,629, classified as averb, pronounced \bɛs\. basent is at rank #30,915, tagged as averb, pronounced \baz\.
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 48544, this pair ranks #178,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of baissent vs basent
Shared letters: abenst. Private to "baissent": i. Private to "basent": -.
"baissent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "basent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "baissent" for "basent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "baissent" or "basent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "baissent" and "basent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "baissent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "basent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "baissent" and "basent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Basel vs basent". 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 #178,082 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.