Which to use
“bêtes” and “butée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,638
- “bêtes” frequency rank
- #46,043
- “butée” frequency rank
- 51681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bêtes | butée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bête. | Dispositif servant à délimiter la course d’une pièce mobile. |
Where the eye mixes bêtes and butée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bêtes (CVCVC) and butée (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: bêtes vs butée
A purely visual mix-up. bêtes (\bɛt\) and butée (\by.te\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51681, 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\. butée is at rank #46,043, tagged as anoun, pronounced \by.te\.
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 51681, this pair ranks #153,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bêtes vs butée
Shared letters: bet. Private to "bêtes": sê. Private to "butée": ué.
"bêtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "butée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bêtes" for "butée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "bêtes" or "butée" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bêtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bêtes" and "butée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buses vs butée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #153,215 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.