bâtissevsbâtissesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bâtisse” and “bâtisses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,466
“bâtisse” frequency rank
#39,683
“bâtisses” frequency rank
59149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bâtisse bâtisses
Definition Action ou manière de bâtir. Pluriel de bâtisse.

Where the eye mixes bâtisse and bâtisses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bâtisse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against bâtisses's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bâtisse
8 ch
bâtisses

Look-alike desk: bâtisse vs bâtisses

A purely visual mix-up. bâtisse (\ba.tis\) and bâtisses (\bɑ.tis\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “bâtisse” sits inside “bâtisses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bâtisse is recorded at frequency rank #19,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.tis\. bâtisses is at rank #39,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɑ.tis\.

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 59149, this pair ranks #104,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bâtisse vs bâtisses

Shared letters: beistâ. Private to "bâtisse": -. Private to "bâtisses": -.

"bâtisse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "bâtisses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bâtisse" and "bâtisses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ba.tis\ versus \bɑ.tis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "bâtisse" or "bâtisses" show up more?
"bâtisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,466 in our French list, against #39,683 for "bâtisses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bâtisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bâtisses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bâtisse" and "bâtisses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bâtisses vs bâtisseur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #104,776 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