bitevsbitumeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,312
“bite” frequency rank
#18,412
“bitume” frequency rank
22724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bite bitume
Definition Pénis ; verge. Matière minérale, inflammable, liquide et jaunâtre, ou solide et noire.

Where the eye mixes bite and bitume

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bite
6 ch
bitume

Look-alike desk: bite vs bitume

A purely visual mix-up. bite (\bit\) and bitume (\bi.tym\) 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 22724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bite is recorded at frequency rank #4,312, classified as anoun, pronounced \bit\. bitume is at rank #18,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bi.tym\.

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 22724, this pair ranks #356,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bite vs bitume

Shared letters: beit. Private to "bite": -. Private to "bitume": mu.

"bite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bitume" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bitebbite · biet · bitte · btie · ibte
  • bitumebbitume · bitmue · bittume · bituem · bitumme · biutme · btiume · ibtume

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bite" for "bitume" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bit\ versus \bi.tym\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bite" vs "bitume" - which ranks higher?
"bite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,312 in our French list, against #18,412 for "bitume". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bitume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #356,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bite" and "bitume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bidule vs bitume". 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 #356,490 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