Which to use
“bloquer” and “braquer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,833
- “bloquer” frequency rank
- #18,674
- “braquer” frequency rank
- 23507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bloquer | braquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fermer par un blocus les avenues d'une place, les approches d'un port, etc, immobiliser par un blocus. | Tourner de façon à placer (une arme à feu, un instrument d'optique) dans une direction déterminée, pointer. |
Where the eye mixes bloquer and braquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bloquer and braquer
A purely visual mix-up. bloquer (\blɔ.ke\) and braquer (\bʁa.ke\) 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 23507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bloquer is recorded at frequency rank #4,833, classified as averb, pronounced \blɔ.ke\. braquer is at rank #18,674, tagged as averb, pronounced \bʁa.ke\.
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 23507, this pair ranks #352,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bloquer vs braquer
Shared letters: beqru. Private to "bloquer": lo. Private to "braquer": a.
"bloquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "braquer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bloquer" for "braquer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bloquer" vs "braquer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bloquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "braquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bloquer" and "braquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "braquer vs braqués". 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 #352,115 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.