Which to use
“bâtard” and “bavard” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,284
- “bâtard” frequency rank
- #24,121
- “bavard” frequency rank
- 34405
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bâtard | bavard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est né de parents non mariés ensemble. | Qui a l’habitude de bavarder. |
Where the eye mixes bâtard and bavard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bâtard and bavard
A purely visual mix-up. bâtard (\bɑ.taʁ\) and bavard (\ba.vaʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34405, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bâtard is recorded at frequency rank #10,284, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɑ.taʁ\. bavard is at rank #24,121, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ba.vaʁ\.
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 34405, this pair ranks #284,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bâtard vs bavard
Shared letters: abdr. Private to "bâtard": tâ. Private to "bavard": v.
"bâtard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "bavard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bavard ← abvard · baavrd · bavadr · bavardd · bavarrd · bavrad · bavvard · bbavard
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bâtard" and "bavard" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "bâtard" or "bavard" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bâtard" and "bavard" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bâtard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bavard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #284,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bâtard" and "bavard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bâtarde vs bavard". 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 #284,057 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.