Which to use
“bans” and “blancs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,719
- “bans” frequency rank
- #2,027
- “blancs” frequency rank
- 38746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bans | blancs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ban. | Camp qui joue en premier, qui a le trait, possédant les pièces blanches. |
Where the eye mixes bans and blancs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bans vs blancs
A purely visual mix-up. bans (\bɑ̃\) and blancs (\blɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38746, 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\. blancs is at rank #2,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced \blɑ̃\.
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 38746, this pair ranks #253,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bans vs blancs
Shared letters: abns. Private to "bans": -. Private to "blancs": cl.
"bans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "blancs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bans" and "blancs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "bans" or "blancs" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "blancs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bans" and "blancs" 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 #253,104 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.