bastianvsbastionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,620
“bastian” frequency rank
#14,611
“bastion” frequency rank
55231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bastian bastion
Definition Frayon de moulin. Ouvrage de fortification qui fait partie de l’enceinte du corps d’une place : il présente en saillie deux faces et deux flancs. Il est relié à l’enceinte par ces derniers.

Where the eye mixes bastian and bastion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bastian and bastion follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
bastian
7 ch
bastion

Look-alike desk: bastian vs bastion

A purely visual mix-up. bastian (\bas.tjɑ̃\) and bastion (\bas.tjɔ̃\) 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 a single letter - a in “bastian” becomes o in “bastion”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bastian is recorded at frequency rank #40,620, classified as anoun, pronounced \bas.tjɑ̃\. bastion is at rank #14,611, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bas.tjɔ̃\.

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 55231, this pair ranks #128,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bastian vs bastion

Shared letters: abinst. Private to "bastian": -. Private to "bastion": o.

"bastian" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "bastion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bastian ← abstian · basitan · basstian · bastain · bastiann · bastina · basttian · batsian
  • bastion ← abstion · basiton · basstion · bastino · bastionn · bastoin · basttion · batsion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bastian" and "bastion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bas.tjɑ̃\ versus \bas.tjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bastian" or "bastion"?
"bastion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,611 in our French list, against #40,620 for "bastian". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bastian" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bastion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bastian" and "bastion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bastiais vs bastian". 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 #128,800 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