Which to use
“Bastard” is a name and “bâtard” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,887
- “Bastard” frequency rank
- #10,284
- “bâtard” frequency rank
- 55171
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Bastard | bâtard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom de famille, fréquent en Haute-Savoie. | Qui est né de parents non mariés ensemble. |
Where the eye mixes Bastard and bâtard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Bastard runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against bâtard's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Bastard vs bâtard
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bastard is \bas.taʁ\ while bâtard is \bɑ.taʁ\. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Bastard is recorded at frequency rank #44,887, classified as aname, pronounced \bas.taʁ\. bâtard is at rank #10,284, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bɑ.taʁ\.
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 55171, this pair ranks #129,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Bastard vs bâtard
Shared letters: abdrt. Private to "Bastard": s. Private to "bâtard": â.
"Bastard" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "bâtard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Bastard ← abstard · basatrd · basstard · bastadr · bastardd · bastarrd · bastrad · basttard
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Bastard" and "bâtard" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "Bastard" or "bâtard" show up more?
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 "Bastard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bâtard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Bastard" and "bâtard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bastard vs bâtarde". 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 #129,207 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.