Which to use
“balances” and “bananes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,246
- “balances” frequency rank
- #13,738
- “bananes” frequency rank
- 34984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | balances | bananes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de balance. | Pluriel de banane. |
Where the eye mixes balances and bananes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. balances runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against bananes's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses balances with bananes
A purely visual mix-up. balances (\ba.lɑ̃s\) and bananes (\ba.nan\) 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 34984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
balances is recorded at frequency rank #21,246, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.lɑ̃s\. bananes is at rank #13,738, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.nan\.
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 34984, this pair ranks #280,001 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of balances vs bananes
Shared letters: abens. Private to "balances": cl. Private to "bananes": -.
"balances" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "bananes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "balances" and "bananes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "balances" vs "bananes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "balances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bananes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,001 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "balances" and "bananes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balances vs balancez". 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 #280,001 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.