Which to use
“barra” is a verb and “bra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,267
- “barra” frequency rank
- #43,814
- “bra” frequency rank
- 80081
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barra | bra |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de barrer. | Soutien-gorge. |
Where the eye mixes barra and bra
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between barra and bra
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barra is \ba.ʁa\ while bra is \ˈbɹɑ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barra is recorded at frequency rank #36,267, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.ʁa\. bra is at rank #43,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɹɑ\.
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 80081, this pair ranks #21,771 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of barra vs bra
Shared letters: abr. Private to "barra": -. Private to "bra": -.
"barra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- barra ← abrra · barar · bbarra · brara
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barra" for "bra" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "barra" or "bra" show up more?
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 "barra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,771 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barra" and "bra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bra vs bury". 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 #21,771 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.