Which to use
“bak” and “blas” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,599
- “bak” frequency rank
- #36,276
- “blas” frequency rank
- 82875
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bak | blas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme mutée de pak par adoucissement (p → b). | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de blasen. |
Where the eye mixes bak and blas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bak runs 3 letters (CVC) against blas's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between bak and blas
A purely visual mix-up. bak (\ˈbakː\) and blas (\blaːs\) 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 82875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bak is recorded at frequency rank #46,599, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈbakː\. blas is at rank #36,276, tagged as averb, pronounced \blaːs\.
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 82875, this pair ranks #15,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bak vs blas
Shared letters: ab. Private to "bak": k. Private to "blas": ls.
"bak" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "blas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- blas ← bblas · blass · bllas · blsa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bak" for "blas" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bak" or "blas"?
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 "bak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bak" and "blas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bak vs ber". 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 #15,850 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.