Which to use
“baptise” and “baptiser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,193
- “baptise” frequency rank
- #26,975
- “baptiser” frequency rank
- 64168
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | baptise | baptiser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe baptiser. | Rendre chrétien par le baptême. |
Where the eye mixes baptise and baptiser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: baptise vs baptiser
A purely visual mix-up. baptise (\ba.tiz\) and baptiser (\ba.ti.ze\) 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 extra letter(s) - “baptise” sits inside “baptiser”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
baptise is recorded at frequency rank #37,193, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.tiz\. baptiser is at rank #26,975, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ti.ze\.
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 64168, this pair ranks #78,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of baptise vs baptiser
Shared letters: abeipst. Private to "baptise": -. Private to "baptiser": r.
"baptise" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "baptiser" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "baptise" for "baptiser" ever safe?
Which is more common, "baptise" or "baptiser"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "baptise" and "baptiser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "baptise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "baptiser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "baptise" and "baptiser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baptise vs bastide". 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 #78,372 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.