Which to use
“bêtes” and “bites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,638
- “bêtes” frequency rank
- #14,866
- “bites” frequency rank
- 20504
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bêtes | bites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bête. | Pluriel de bite. |
Where the eye mixes bêtes and bites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bêtes and bites follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between bêtes and bites
A purely visual mix-up. bêtes (\bɛt\) and bites (\bit\) 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 a single letter - ê in “bêtes” becomes i in “bites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bêtes is recorded at frequency rank #5,638, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛt\. bites is at rank #14,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bit\.
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 20504, this pair ranks #367,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bêtes vs bites
Shared letters: best. Private to "bêtes": ê. Private to "bites": i.
"bêtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bites ← bbites · biets · bitess · bitse · bittes · bties · ibtes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bêtes" for "bites" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bêtes" vs "bites" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bêtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bêtes" and "bites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bites vs Bizet". 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 #367,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.