Which to use
“bâtiment” is a noun and “battent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,729
- “bâtiment” frequency rank
- #6,589
- “battent” frequency rank
- 8318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bâtiment | battent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Construction close faite pour loger des hommes ou des animaux, ou pour abriter des denrées, des récoltes, pour servir à des industries, à des services publics, etc. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe battre. |
Where the eye mixes bâtiment and battent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bâtiment runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against battent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bâtiment with battent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bâtiment is \bɑ.ti.mɑ̃\ while battent is \bat\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bâtiment is recorded at frequency rank #1,729, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɑ.ti.mɑ̃\. battent is at rank #6,589, tagged as averb, pronounced \bat\.
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 8318, this pair ranks #420,420 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bâtiment vs battent
Shared letters: bent. Private to "bâtiment": imâ. Private to "battent": a.
"bâtiment" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "battent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- battent ← abttent · batent · batetnt · battennt · battentt · battetn · battnet · bbattent
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bâtiment" for "battent" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bâtiment" or "battent"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bâtiment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "battent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,420 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bâtiment" and "battent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barrent vs battent". 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 #420,420 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.