barrentvsbarrerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,182
“barrent” frequency rank
#12,523
“barrer” frequency rank
59705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barrent barrer
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe barrer. Fermer avec une barre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set barrent and barrer apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
barrent
6 ch
barrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. barrent (\baʁ\) and barrer (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barrent is recorded at frequency rank #47,182, classified as averb, pronounced \baʁ\. barrer is at rank #12,523, tagged as averb, 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 59705, this pair ranks #101,638 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barrent vs barrer

Shared letters: aber. Private to "barrent": nt. Private to "barrer": -.

"barrent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "barrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barrentabrrent · barent · barernt · barrennt · barrentt · barretn · barrnet · bbarrent
  • barrerabrrer · barerr · barrerr · barrre · bbarrer · brarer

Frequency comparison

barrent#47,182
barrer#12,523

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barrent" and "barrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baʁ\ versus \ba.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "barrent" or "barrer"?
"barrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,523 in our French list, against #47,182 for "barrent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering barrent vs barrer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “barrent” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list