bicvsbraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“bic” and “bra” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,466
“bic” frequency rank
#43,814
“bra” frequency rank
67280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bic bra
Definition Stylo à bille. Soutien-gorge.

Where the eye mixes bic and bra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
bic
3 ch
bra

Look-alike desk: bic vs bra

A purely visual mix-up. bic (\bik\) and bra (\ˈbɹɑ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bic is recorded at frequency rank #23,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \bik\. bra is at rank #43,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɹɑ\.

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 67280, this pair ranks #64,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bic vs bra

Shared letters: b. Private to "bic": ci. Private to "bra": ar.

"bic" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bic" and "bra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bik\ versus \ˈbɹɑ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bic" or "bra"?
"bic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,466 in our French list, against #43,814 for "bra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "bic" and "bra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bic" and "bra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bra vs bury". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #64,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list