Which to use
“barre” and “barreau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,068
- “barre” frequency rank
- #10,455
- “barreau” frequency rank
- 12523
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barre | barreau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de bois, de métal, etc., étroite et longue. | Barre de bois ou de fer qui sert de clôture. |
Where the eye mixes barre and barreau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. barre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against barreau's 7 (CVCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses barre with barreau
A purely visual mix-up. barre (\baʁ\) and barreau (\ba.ʁo\) 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 extra letter(s) - “barre” sits inside “barreau”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barre is recorded at frequency rank #2,068, classified as anoun, pronounced \baʁ\. barreau is at rank #10,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.ʁo\.
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 12523, this pair ranks #404,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of barre vs barreau
Shared letters: aber. Private to "barre": -. Private to "barreau": u.
"barre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "barreau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "barre" and "barreau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "barre" or "barreau"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "barre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barreau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barre" and "barreau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barreau vs barrent". 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 #404,909 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.