Which to use
“balayer” and “blâmer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,304
- “balayer” frequency rank
- #12,727
- “blâmer” frequency rank
- 29031
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | balayer | blâmer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nettoyer un lieu avec le balai. | Reprocher ; imputer la faute d'une situation déplorable à quelqu’un ou à quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes balayer and blâmer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: balayer vs blâmer
A purely visual mix-up. balayer (\ba.lɛ.je\) and blâmer (\blɑ.me\) 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 29031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
balayer is recorded at frequency rank #16,304, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.lɛ.je\. blâmer is at rank #12,727, tagged as averb, pronounced \blɑ.me\.
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 29031, this pair ranks #319,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of balayer vs blâmer
Shared letters: belr. Private to "balayer": ay. Private to "blâmer": mâ.
"balayer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC · "blâmer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- balayer ← ablayer · baalyer · balaeyr · balayerr · balayre · balayyer · ballayer · balyaer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "balayer" and "blâmer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "balayer" or "blâmer" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "balayer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blâmer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "balayer" and "blâmer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balayer vs Blaye". 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 #319,168 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.