Which to use
“bastion” and “bâton” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,611
- “bastion” frequency rank
- #5,637
- “bâton” frequency rank
- 20248
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bastion | bâton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Morceau de bois assez long, qu’on peut tenir à la main et qui sert d’appui, d'arme, de hampe et peut être utilisé à d'autres usages. |
Where the eye mixes bastion and bâton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bastion runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against bâton's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bastion vs bâton
A purely visual mix-up. bastion (\bas.tjɔ̃\) and bâton (\bɑ.tɔ̃\) 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 20248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bastion is recorded at frequency rank #14,611, classified as anoun, pronounced \bas.tjɔ̃\. bâton is at rank #5,637, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɑ.tɔ̃\.
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 20248, this pair ranks #369,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bastion vs bâton
Shared letters: bnot. Private to "bastion": ais. Private to "bâton": â.
"bastion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "bâton" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bastion ← abstion · basiton · basstion · bastino · bastionn · bastoin · basttion · batsion
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bastion" and "bâton" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "bastion" or "bâton" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bastion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bâton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bastion" and "bâton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bastian vs bastion". 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 #369,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.