bilanvsbranTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,026
“bilan” frequency rank
#34,907
“bran” frequency rank
36933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bilan bran
Definition Récapitulatif. Partie la plus grossière du son de céréale.

Where the eye mixes bilan and bran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bilan runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against bran's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
bilan
4 ch
bran

Visual trap between bilan and bran

A purely visual mix-up. bilan (\bi.lɑ̃\) and bran (\bʁɑ̃\) 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 36933, 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\. bran is at rank #34,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɑ̃\.

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 36933, this pair ranks #266,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bilan vs bran

Shared letters: abn. Private to "bilan": il. Private to "bran": r.

"bilan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bilan ← bbilan · bialn · bilann · billan · bilna · blian · iblan
  • bran ← barn · bbran · brann · brna · brran · rban

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bilan" and "bran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bi.lɑ̃\ versus \bʁɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bilan" vs "bran" - which ranks higher?
"bilan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,026 in our French list, against #34,907 for "bran". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bilan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bilan" and "bran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bran vs bread". 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 #266,098 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