bananevsbannerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: banane is a noun, banner is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“banane” is a noun and “banner” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,433
“banane” frequency rank
#36,266
“banner” frequency rank
45699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banane banner
Definition Fruit comestible du bananier, baie de forme allongée, d’abord vert puis jaune ponctué de taches noires à maturité, à chair farineuse. Couvrir avec une banne.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set banane and banner apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
banane
6 ch
banner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: banane is \ba.nan\ while banner is \ba.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banane is recorded at frequency rank #9,433, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.nan\. banner is at rank #36,266, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ne\.

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 45699, this pair ranks #200,704 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of banane vs banner

Shared letters: aben. Private to "banane": -. Private to "banner": r.

"banane" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "banner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bananeabnane · baanne · banaen · bananne · bannae · bannane · bbanane · bnaane
  • bannerabnner · banenr · baner · bannerr · bannre · bbanner · bnaner

Frequency comparison

banane#9,433
banner#36,266

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "banane" and "banner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "banane" is a noun and "banner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "banane" or "banner"?
"banane" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,433 in our French list, against #36,266 for "banner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering banane vs banner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “banane”; for a verb, it's “banner”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “banane” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list