bargesvsbarréeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,466
“barges” frequency rank
#25,217
“barrée” frequency rank
70683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barges barrée
Definition Pluriel de barge. Féminin singulier de barré.

Where the eye mixes barges and barrée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. barges (CVCCVC) and barrée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
barges
6 ch
barrée

Visual trap between barges and barrée

A purely visual mix-up. barges (\baʁʒ\) and barrée (\ba.ʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barges is recorded at frequency rank #45,466, classified as anadj, pronounced \baʁʒ\. 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 70683, this pair ranks #50,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barges vs barrée

Shared letters: aber. Private to "barges": gs. Private to "barrée": é.

"barges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "barrée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barges ← abrges · bagres · baregs · bargess · bargges · bargse · barrges · bbarges

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barges" and "barrée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baʁʒ\ versus \ba.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "barges" vs "barrée" - which ranks higher?
"barrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,217 in our French list, against #45,466 for "barges". 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 "barges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "barrée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barges" and "barrée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "badger 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 #50,430 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