Which to use
“bêtes” and “buttes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,638
- “bêtes” frequency rank
- #35,412
- “buttes” frequency rank
- 41050
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bêtes | buttes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bête. | Pluriel de butte. |
Where the eye mixes bêtes and buttes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bêtes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against buttes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bêtes vs buttes
A purely visual mix-up. bêtes (\bɛt\) and buttes (\byt\) 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 41050, 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\. buttes is at rank #35,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \byt\.
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 41050, this pair ranks #235,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bêtes vs buttes
Shared letters: best. Private to "bêtes": ê. Private to "buttes": u.
"bêtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "buttes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- buttes ← bbuttes · btutes · butes · butets · buttess · buttse · ubttes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bêtes" and "buttes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "bêtes" or "buttes" show up more?
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 "buttes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bêtes" and "buttes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buses vs buttes". 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 #235,914 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.