bâtiesvsbâtirConfusable pair

Quick tell: bâties is a adjective, bâtir is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bâties” is an adjective and “bâtir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,788
“bâties” frequency rank
#7,157
“bâtir” frequency rank
30945
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bâties bâtir
Definition Féminin pluriel de bâti. Agencer, disposer les pièces d’un vêtement en les faufilant, en les assemblant avec de grands points d’aiguille avant de les coudre tout à fait.

Where the eye mixes bâties and bâtir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bâties runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against bâtir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bâties
5 ch
bâtir

Why the eye confuses bâties with bâtir

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bâties is \bɑ.ti\ while bâtir is \ba.tiʁ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bâties is recorded at frequency rank #23,788, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɑ.ti\. bâtir is at rank #7,157, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.tiʁ\.

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 30945, this pair ranks #306,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bâties vs bâtir

Shared letters: bitâ. Private to "bâties": es. Private to "bâtir": r.

"bâties" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "bâtir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bâties" for "bâtir" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bâties" is an adjective and "bâtir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "bâties" or "bâtir" show up more?
"bâtir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,157 in our French list, against #23,788 for "bâties". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bâties" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bâtir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bâties" and "bâtir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bâties vs battles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #306,981 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