bisonsvsbuissonsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,896
“bisons” frequency rank
#20,070
“buissons” frequency rank
54966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bisons buissons
Definition Pluriel de bison. Pluriel de buisson.

Where the eye mixes bisons and buissons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bisons runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against buissons's 8 (CVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bisons
8 ch
buissons

Visual trap between bisons and buissons

A purely visual mix-up. bisons (\bi.zɔ̃\) and buissons (\bɥi.sɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bisons is recorded at frequency rank #34,896, classified as anoun, pronounced \bi.zɔ̃\. buissons is at rank #20,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɥi.sɔ̃\.

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 54966, this pair ranks #130,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bisons vs buissons

Shared letters: binos. Private to "bisons": -. Private to "buissons": u.

"bisons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "buissons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bisons ← bbisons · biosns · bisnos · bisonns · bisonss · bisosn · bissons · bsions
  • buissons ← bbuissons · biussons · buisons · buisosns · buissnos · buissonns · buissonss · buissosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bisons" and "buissons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bi.zɔ̃\ versus \bɥi.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bisons" or "buissons"?
"buissons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,070 in our French list, against #34,896 for "bisons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bisons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "buissons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bisons" and "buissons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bisons vs boson". 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 #130,489 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