basedvsbaséesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#30,068
“based” frequency rank
#11,349
“basées” frequency rank
41417
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature based basées
Definition Louable et admirable, souvent en exprimant un point de vue controversé. Féminin pluriel de basé.

Where the eye mixes based and basées

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

5 ch
based
6 ch
basées

Visual trap between based and basées

A purely visual mix-up. based (\bɛjzd\) and basées (\ba.ze\) 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 41417, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

based is recorded at frequency rank #30,068, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɛjzd\. basées is at rank #11,349, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ba.ze\.

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 41417, this pair ranks #233,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of based vs basées

Shared letters: abes. Private to "based": d. Private to "basées": é.

"based" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "basées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • basedabsed · baesd · basde · basedd · bassed · bbased · bsaed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "based" for "basées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bɛjzd\ versus \ba.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "based" vs "basées" - which ranks higher?
"basées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,349 in our French list, against #30,068 for "based". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "based" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "basées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "based" and "basées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baisez vs based". 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 #233,275 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