Which to use
“barbare” and “barbares” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,329
- “barbare” frequency rank
- #10,999
- “barbares” frequency rank
- 24328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barbare | barbares |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualifie les peuples non gréco-romains. | Pluriel de barbare. |
Same sound, different letters: barbare vs barbares
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. barbare runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against barbares's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - barbare / barbares
This is the hard kind. barbare and barbares are pronounced identically (\baʁ.baʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “barbare” sits inside “barbares”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barbare is recorded at frequency rank #13,329, classified as anadj, pronounced \baʁ.baʁ\. barbares is at rank #10,999, tagged as anadj, pronounced \baʁ.baʁ\.
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 24328, this pair ranks #347,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of barbare vs barbares
Shared letters: aber. Private to "barbare": -. Private to "barbares": s.
"barbare" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "barbares" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "barbare" and "barbares" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "barbare" or "barbares"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "barbare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barbares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barbare" and "barbares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bambara vs barbare". 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 #347,228 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.