Which to use
“bande” and “barre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #915
- “bande” frequency rank
- #2,068
- “barre” frequency rank
- 2983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bande | barre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de lien plat et large. | Pièce de bois, de métal, etc., étroite et longue. |
Where the eye mixes bande and barre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bande with barre
A purely visual mix-up. bande (\bɑ̃d\) and barre (\baʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bande is recorded at frequency rank #915, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɑ̃d\. barre is at rank #2,068, tagged as anoun, pronounced \baʁ\.
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 2983, this pair ranks #435,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bande vs barre
Shared letters: abe. Private to "bande": dn. Private to "barre": r.
"bande" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "barre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bande" and "barre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "bande" vs "barre" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bande" and "barre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bande" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bande" and "barre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barre vs Byrne". 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 #435,060 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.