Which to use
“bans” and “brass” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,719
- “bans” frequency rank
- #39,680
- “brass” frequency rank
- 76399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bans | brass |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ban. | Laiton. |
Where the eye mixes bans and brass
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bans runs 4 letters (CVCC) against brass's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bans with brass
A purely visual mix-up. bans (\bɑ̃\) and brass (\bɹɑːs\) 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 76399, 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\. brass is at rank #39,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɹɑːs\.
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 76399, this pair ranks #31,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bans vs brass
Shared letters: abs. Private to "bans": n. Private to "brass": r.
"bans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "brass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bans" for "brass" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bans" vs "brass" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bans" and "brass" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bans" and "brass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brands vs brass". 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 #31,260 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.