barèmevsbarréeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: barème is a noun, barrée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“barème” is a noun and “barrée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,572
“barème” frequency rank
#25,217
“barrée” frequency rank
40789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barème barrée
Definition Recueil de comptes déjà faits à l'avance (certains présentés sous la forme de tableaux), facilitant le travail des comptables. Féminin singulier de barré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set barème and barrée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
barème
6 ch
barrée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barème is \ba.ʁɛm\ while barrée is \ba.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barème is recorded at frequency rank #15,572, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.ʁɛm\. barrée is at rank #25,217, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ba.ʁe\.

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 40789, this pair ranks #237,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of barème vs barrée

Shared letters: aber. Private to "barème": . Private to "barrée": é.

"barème" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "barrée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

barème#15,572
barrée#25,217

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barème" and "barrée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "barème" is a noun and "barrée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "barème" or "barrée"?
"barème" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,572 in our French list, against #25,217 for "barrée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering barème vs barrée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “barème”; for an adjective, it's “barrée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “barème” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list