BdevsbisWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Bde is a noun, bis is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#43,803
“Bde” frequency rank
#7,530
“bis” frequency rank
51333
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bde bis
Definition Abréviation de brigade. Qui est d’un gris beige foncé #766F64 ou clair #F1E2BE.

Where the eye mixes Bde and bis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Bde
3 ch
bis

Why the eye confuses Bde with bis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bde is \bʁi.ɡad\ while bis is \bi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bde is recorded at frequency rank #43,803, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁi.ɡad\. bis is at rank #7,530, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bi\.

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 51333, this pair ranks #155,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bde vs bis

Shared letters: b. Private to "Bde": de. Private to "bis": is.

"Bde" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bde" for "bis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bde" is a noun and "bis" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Bde" vs "bis" - which ranks higher?
"bis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,530 in our French list, against #43,803 for "Bde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bde" and "bis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bde vs ber". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #155,826 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