Which to use
“barge” and “barrage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,069
- “barge” frequency rank
- #4,911
- “barrage” frequency rank
- 32980
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barge | barrage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oiseau limicole du genre Limosa. | Barrière qui ferme un chemin. |
Where the eye mixes barge and barrage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. barge runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against barrage's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: barge vs barrage
A purely visual mix-up. barge (\baʁʒ\) and barrage (\bɑ.ʁaʒ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barge is recorded at frequency rank #28,069, classified as anoun, pronounced \baʁʒ\. barrage is at rank #4,911, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɑ.ʁaʒ\.
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 32980, this pair ranks #293,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barge vs barrage
Shared letters: abegr. Private to "barge": -. Private to "barrage": -.
"barge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "barrage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "barge" and "barrage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "barge" or "barrage"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "barge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barrage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barge" and "barrage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "badger vs barge". 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 #293,665 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.