bilanvsbisonWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,026
“bilan” frequency rank
#24,129
“bison” frequency rank
26155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bilan bison
Definition Récapitulatif. Grand bovidé (du genre Bison) existant en Amérique (Bison bison) et en Europe (Bison bonasus).

Where the eye mixes bilan and bison

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bilan
5 ch
bison

Look-alike desk: bilan vs bison

A purely visual mix-up. bilan (\bi.lɑ̃\) and bison (\bi.zɔ̃\) 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 26155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bilan is recorded at frequency rank #2,026, classified as anoun, pronounced \bi.lɑ̃\. bison is at rank #24,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bi.zɔ̃\.

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 26155, this pair ranks #336,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bilan vs bison

Shared letters: bin. Private to "bilan": al. Private to "bison": os.

"bilan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bison" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bilanbbilan · bialn · bilann · billan · bilna · blian · iblan
  • bisonbbison · biosn · bisno · bisonn · bsion · ibson

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bilan" for "bison" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bi.lɑ̃\ versus \bi.zɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bilan" vs "bison" - which ranks higher?
"bilan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,026 in our French list, against #24,129 for "bison". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #336,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bilan" and "bison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beton vs bison". 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 #336,816 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