Which to use
“bear” and “bras” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,057
- “bear” frequency rank
- #785
- “bras” frequency rank
- 20842
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bear | bras |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Homme poilu et barbu, généralement enveloppé ou gros. | Partie du membre supérieur des humains (et des bipèdes en général) qui s’étend depuis l’épaule (qui la relie au tronc) jusqu’au coude (qui la relie à l’avant-bras). |
Where the eye mixes bear and bras
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bear with bras
A purely visual mix-up. bear (\bɛʁ\) and bras (\bʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bear is recorded at frequency rank #20,057, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ\. bras is at rank #785, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁa\.
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 20842, this pair ranks #366,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bear vs bras
Shared letters: abr. Private to "bear": e. Private to "bras": s.
"bear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bras" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bear" for "bras" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bear" or "bras"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bras" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bear" and "bras" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bear vs ber". 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 #366,209 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.