Which to use
“balaie” is a verb and “blain” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,886
- “balaie” frequency rank
- #40,141
- “blain” frequency rank
- 75027
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | balaie | blain |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe balayer. | (Loire-Inférieure) Bateau plat très allongé, avec voile à livarde, qui naviguait sur les tourbières et qui pouvait porter jusqu’à 15 000 mottes de tourbe. Les plus grands avaient deux mâts. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set balaie and blain apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: balaie is \ba.lɛ\ while blain is \blɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
balaie is recorded at frequency rank #34,886, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.lɛ\. blain is at rank #40,141, tagged as anoun, pronounced \blɛ̃\.
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 75027, this pair ranks #35,341 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of balaie vs blain
Shared letters: abil. Private to "balaie": e. Private to "blain": n.
"balaie" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "blain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "balaie" and "blain" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "balaie" or "blain"?
Remembering balaie vs blain
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “balaie”; for a noun, it's “blain”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “balaie” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable