Which to use
“barre” is a noun and “boire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,068
- “barre” frequency rank
- #1,984
- “boire” frequency rank
- 4052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barre | boire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de bois, de métal, etc., étroite et longue. | Mettre un liquide dans sa bouche et l’avaler. |
Where the eye mixes barre and boire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses barre with boire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barre is \baʁ\ while boire is \bwaʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4052, 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\. boire is at rank #1,984, tagged as averb, pronounced \bwaʁ\.
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 4052, this pair ranks #432,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of barre vs boire
Shared letters: ber. Private to "barre": a. Private to "boire": io.
"barre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "boire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barre" for "boire" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "barre" or "boire" show up more?
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 "boire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barre" and "boire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boers vs boire". 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 #432,578 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.