Which to use
“bears” and “bras” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,298
- “bears” frequency rank
- #785
- “bras” frequency rank
- 33083
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bears | bras |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bear. | 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 bears and bras
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bears vs bras
A purely visual mix-up. bears (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bears is recorded at frequency rank #32,298, 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 33083, this pair ranks #292,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bears vs bras
Shared letters: abrs. Private to "bears": e. Private to "bras": -.
"bears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "bras" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bears" for "bras" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bears" or "bras"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bears" and "bras" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bears" 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 #292,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bears" and "bras" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bears vs boers". 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 #292,961 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.