basesvsbraisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,705
“bases” frequency rank
#34,442
“braises” frequency rank
37147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bases braises
Definition Pluriel de base. (Dans certaines expressions) Cause ou source de contentieux ou de discorde.

Where the eye mixes bases and braises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bases
7 ch
braises

Look-alike desk: bases vs braises

A purely visual mix-up. bases (\baz\) and braises (\bʁɛz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bases is recorded at frequency rank #2,705, classified as anoun, pronounced \baz\. braises is at rank #34,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɛz\.

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 37147, this pair ranks #264,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bases vs braises

Shared letters: abes. Private to "bases": -. Private to "braises": ir.

"bases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "braises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • basesabses · baess · basess · bbases · bsaes
  • braisesbarises · bbraises · braiess · braisess · braisses · brasies · briases · brraises

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bases" and "braises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baz\ versus \bʁɛz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "bases" or "braises" show up more?
"bases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,705 in our French list, against #34,442 for "braises". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "braises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #264,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bases" and "braises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "braises vs branles". 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 #264,563 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