Which to use
“bâtit” and “battait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,084
- “bâtit” frequency rank
- #15,098
- “battait” frequency rank
- 43182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bâtit | battait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de bâtir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe battre. |
Where the eye mixes bâtit and battait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bâtit runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against battait's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bâtit vs battait
A purely visual mix-up. bâtit (\bɑ.ti\) and battait (\ba.tɛ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bâtit is recorded at frequency rank #28,084, classified as averb, pronounced \bɑ.ti\. battait is at rank #15,098, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.tɛ\.
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 43182, this pair ranks #220,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bâtit vs battait
Shared letters: bit. Private to "bâtit": â. Private to "battait": a.
"bâtit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "battait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- battait ← abttait · batait · batatit · battaitt · battati · battiat · bbattait · btatait
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bâtit" for "battait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bâtit" or "battait"?
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 "bâtit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "battait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bâtit" and "battait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bâtit vs Butt". 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 #220,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.