Which to use
“berce” and “berceau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,177
- “berce” frequency rank
- #9,789
- “berceau” frequency rank
- 48966
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | berce | berceau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante de la famille des Apiacées, croissant et se développant dans les terrains humides de toute l'Europe. | Petit lit où l’on couche les nourrissons et qui est disposé pour que l’on puisse le balancer, le bercer, aisément. |
Where the eye mixes berce and berceau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. berce runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against berceau's 7 (CVCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: berce vs berceau
A purely visual mix-up. berce (\bɛʁs\) and berceau (\bɛʁ.so\) 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 extra letter(s) - “berce” sits inside “berceau”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
berce is recorded at frequency rank #39,177, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁs\. berceau is at rank #9,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ.so\.
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 48966, this pair ranks #174,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of berce vs berceau
Shared letters: bcer. Private to "berce": -. Private to "berceau": au.
"berce" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "berceau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "berce" and "berceau" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "berce" vs "berceau" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "berce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "berceau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "berce" and "berceau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ber vs berce". 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 #174,598 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.