barèmesvsbarquesTell them apart

Which to use

“barèmes” and “barques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,326
“barèmes” frequency rank
#33,137
“barques” frequency rank
77463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barèmes barques
Definition Pluriel de barème. Pluriel de barque.

Where the eye mixes barèmes and barques

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. barèmes (CVCVCVC) and barques (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
barèmes
7 ch
barques

Look-alike desk: barèmes vs barques

A purely visual mix-up. barèmes (\ba.ʁɛm\) and barques (\baʁk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barèmes is recorded at frequency rank #44,326, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.ʁɛm\. barques is at rank #33,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced \baʁk\.

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 77463, this pair ranks #28,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barèmes vs barques

Shared letters: abers. Private to "barèmes": mè. Private to "barques": qu.

"barèmes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "barques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barques ← abrques · baqrues · barqeus · barqques · barquess · barquse · barrques · baruqes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "barèmes" for "barques" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ba.ʁɛm\ versus \baʁk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "barèmes" or "barques"?
"barques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,137 in our French list, against #44,326 for "barèmes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "barèmes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "barques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barèmes" and "barques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barèmes vs barges". 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 #28,294 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list