bashvsbisWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bash is a noun, bis is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bash” is a noun and “bis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,268
“bash” frequency rank
#7,530
“bis” frequency rank
43798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bash bis
Definition Grande fête, grande soirée, gala. Qui est d’un gris beige foncé #766F64 ou clair #F1E2BE.

Where the eye mixes bash and bis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bash
3 ch
bis

Why the eye confuses bash with bis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bash is \ˈbæʃ\ while bis is \bi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bash is recorded at frequency rank #36,268, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbæʃ\. bis is at rank #7,530, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bi\.

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 43798, this pair ranks #215,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bash vs bis

Shared letters: bs. Private to "bash": ah. Private to "bis": i.

"bash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bashabsh · bahs · bashh · bassh · bbash · bsah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bash" and "bis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bash" is a noun and "bis" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bash" vs "bis" - which ranks higher?
"bis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,530 in our French list, against #36,268 for "bash". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bash" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bash" and "bis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bafa vs bash". 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 #215,321 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