bâtiesvsbitesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#23,788
“bâties” frequency rank
#14,866
“bites” frequency rank
38654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bâties bites
Definition Féminin pluriel de bâti. Pluriel de bite.

Where the eye mixes bâties and bites

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

6 ch
bâties
5 ch
bites

Why the eye confuses bâties with bites

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bâties is \bɑ.ti\ while bites is \bit\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38654, 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\. bites is at rank #14,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bit\.

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 38654, this pair ranks #253,751 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bâties vs bites

Shared letters: beist. Private to "bâties": â. Private to "bites": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bites ← bbites · biets · bitess · bitse · bittes · bties · ibtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bâties" and "bites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bâties" is an adjective and "bites" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "bâties" or "bites" show up more?
"bites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,866 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "bâties" and "bites" 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 "bites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,751 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bâties" and "bites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bâties vs battles". 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 #253,751 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