Which to use
“barre” and “bayle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,068
- “barre” frequency rank
- #39,661
- “bayle” frequency rank
- 41729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barre | bayle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de bois, de métal, etc., étroite et longue. | Berger. |
Where the eye mixes barre and bayle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. barre (CVCCV) and bayle (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: barre vs bayle
A purely visual mix-up. barre (\baʁ\) and bayle (\bɛl\) 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 41729, 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\. bayle is at rank #39,661, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɛl\.
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 41729, this pair ranks #230,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barre vs bayle
Shared letters: abe. Private to "barre": r. Private to "bayle": ly.
"barre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "bayle" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barre" for "bayle" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barre" vs "bayle" - which ranks higher?
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 "bayle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barre" and "bayle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "basale vs bayle". 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 #230,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.