barrervsbaverConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,523
“barrer” frequency rank
#25,562
“baver” frequency rank
38085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barrer baver
Definition Fermer avec une barre. Laisser échapper de la bave.

Where the eye mixes barrer and baver

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
barrer
5 ch
baver

Why the eye confuses barrer with baver

A purely visual mix-up. barrer (\ba.ʁe\) and baver (\ba.ve\) 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 38085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barrer is recorded at frequency rank #12,523, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.ʁe\. baver is at rank #25,562, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ve\.

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 38085, this pair ranks #257,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of barrer vs baver

Shared letters: aber. Private to "barrer": -. Private to "baver": v.

"barrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "baver" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barrerabrrer · barerr · barrerr · barrre · bbarrer · brarer
  • baverabver · baevr · baverr · bavre · bavver · bbaver · bvaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barrer" and "baver" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ba.ʁe\ versus \ba.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "barrer" or "baver"?
"barrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,523 in our French list, against #25,562 for "baver". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "barrer" and "baver" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "barrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "baver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #257,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barrer" and "baver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "badger vs baver". 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 #257,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list