bansvsbinTell them apart

Quick tell: bans is a noun, bin is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bans” is a noun and “bin” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,719
“bans” frequency rank
#10,119
“bin” frequency rank
46838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bans bin
Definition Pluriel de ban. Variante de bien.

Where the eye mixes bans and bin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bans
3 ch
bin

Look-alike desk: bans vs bin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bans is \bɑ̃\ while bin is \bɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bans is recorded at frequency rank #36,719, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɑ̃\. bin is at rank #10,119, tagged as anadv, pronounced \bɛ̃\.

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 46838, this pair ranks #191,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bans vs bin

Shared letters: bn. Private to "bans": as. Private to "bin": i.

"bans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bansabns · banns · banss · basn · bbans · bnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bans" and "bin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bans" is a noun and "bin" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bans" vs "bin" - which ranks higher?
"bin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,119 in our French list, against #36,719 for "bans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bans" and "bin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banals vs bans". 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 #191,660 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list