Which to use
“barres” and “bavures” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,786
- “barres” frequency rank
- #37,681
- “bavures” frequency rank
- 44467
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barres | bavures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de barre. | Pluriel de bavure. |
Where the eye mixes barres and bavures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. barres runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against bavures's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between barres and bavures
A purely visual mix-up. barres (\baʁ\) and bavures (\ba.vyʁ\) 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 44467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barres is recorded at frequency rank #6,786, classified as anoun, pronounced \baʁ\. bavures is at rank #37,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.vyʁ\.
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 44467, this pair ranks #210,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barres vs bavures
Shared letters: abers. Private to "barres": -. Private to "bavures": uv.
"barres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bavures" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barres" for "bavures" ever safe?
Which is more common, "barres" or "bavures"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "barres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bavures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barres" and "bavures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bavards vs bavures". 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 #210,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.