Which to use
“battre” is a verb and “bette” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,765
- “battre” frequency rank
- #35,827
- “bette” frequency rank
- 37592
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | battre | bette |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Frapper de coups répétés. | Beta, genre de plantes de la famille des Amaranthacées. |
Where the eye mixes battre and bette
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. battre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against bette's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between battre and bette
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: battre is \batʁ\ while bette is \bɛt\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37592, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
battre is recorded at frequency rank #1,765, classified as averb, pronounced \batʁ\. bette is at rank #35,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɛt\.
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 37592, this pair ranks #261,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of battre vs bette
Shared letters: bet. Private to "battre": ar. Private to "bette": -.
"battre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "bette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "battre" for "bette" ever safe?
Which is more common, "battre" or "bette"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "battre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #261,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "battre" and "bette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beton vs bette". 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 #261,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.