bastianvsbastionsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,620
“bastian” frequency rank
#24,874
“bastions” frequency rank
65494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bastian bastions
Definition Frayon de moulin. Pluriel de bastion.

Where the eye mixes bastian and bastions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bastian runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against bastions's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bastian
8 ch
bastions

Visual trap between bastian and bastions

A purely visual mix-up. bastian (\bas.tjɑ̃\) and bastions (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65494, 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\. bastions is at rank #24,874, 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 65494, this pair ranks #72,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bastian vs bastions

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

"bastian" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "bastions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bastian ← abstian · basitan · basstian · bastain · bastiann · bastina · basttian · batsian
  • bastions ← abstions · basitons · basstions · bastinos · bastionns · bastionss · bastiosn · bastoins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bastian" and "bastions" be used interchangeably?
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 "bastions"?
"bastions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,874 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

Eye-level mix-up between "bastian" and "bastions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bastian" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bastions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bastian" and "bastions" 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 #72,097 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