Which to use
“bane” and “barre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,740
- “bane” frequency rank
- #2,068
- “barre” frequency rank
- 49808
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bane | barre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hotte pour les vendanges. | Pièce de bois, de métal, etc., étroite et longue. |
Where the eye mixes bane and barre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bane runs 4 letters (CVCV) against barre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bane with barre
A purely visual mix-up. bane (\ban\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bane is recorded at frequency rank #47,740, classified as anoun, pronounced \ban\. 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 49808, this pair ranks #167,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bane vs barre
Shared letters: abe. Private to "bane": n. Private to "barre": r.
"bane" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "barre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bane" and "barre" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bane" vs "barre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bane" 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 #167,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bane" and "barre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bafa vs bane". 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 #167,714 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.