Which to use
“bane” and “baux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,740
- “bane” frequency rank
- #18,408
- “baux” frequency rank
- 66148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bane | baux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hotte pour les vendanges. | Pluriel de bau. |
Where the eye mixes bane and baux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bane (CVCV) and baux (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between bane and baux
A purely visual mix-up. bane (\ban\) and baux (\bo\) 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 66148, 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\. baux is at rank #18,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bo\.
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 66148, this pair ranks #69,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bane vs baux
Shared letters: ab. Private to "bane": en. Private to "baux": ux.
"bane" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "baux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bane" and "baux" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bane" or "baux"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bane" and "baux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "baux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bane" and "baux" 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 #69,071 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.