Which to use
“barème” and “baume” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,572
- “barème” frequency rank
- #14,420
- “baume” frequency rank
- 29992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barème | baume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Recueil de comptes déjà faits à l'avance (certains présentés sous la forme de tableaux), facilitant le travail des comptables. | Substance résineuse et odorante qui coule de certains végétaux et qu’on emploie souvent en médecine. |
Where the eye mixes barème and baume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. barème runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against baume's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: barème vs baume
A purely visual mix-up. barème (\ba.ʁɛm\) and baume (\bom\) 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 29992, 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\. baume is at rank #14,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bom\.
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 29992, this pair ranks #313,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barème vs baume
Shared letters: abem. Private to "barème": rè. Private to "baume": u.
"barème" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "baume" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- baume ← abume · bamue · bauem · baumme · bbaume · buame
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barème" for "baume" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barème" vs "baume" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "barème" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "baume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barème" and "baume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bane vs baume". 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 #313,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.