bordevsbordureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,780
“borde” frequency rank
#8,206
“bordure” frequency rank
30986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature borde bordure
Definition Métairie. Ce qui garnit, orne ou renforce le bord de quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set borde and bordure apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
borde
7 ch
bordure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. borde (\bɔʁd\) and bordure (\bɔʁ.dyʁ\) 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 30986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

borde is recorded at frequency rank #22,780, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɔʁd\. bordure is at rank #8,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔʁ.dyʁ\.

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 30986, this pair ranks #306,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of borde vs bordure

Shared letters: bdeor. Private to "borde": -. Private to "bordure": u.

"borde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "bordure" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bordebborde · bodre · bordde · bored · borrde · brode · obrde
  • bordurebbordure · bodrure · borddure · bordrue · borduer · bordurre · borrdure · borudre

Frequency comparison

borde#22,780
bordure#8,206

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "borde" and "bordure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bɔʁd\ versus \bɔʁ.dyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "borde" or "bordure"?
"bordure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,206 in our French list, against #22,780 for "borde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering borde vs bordure

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “borde” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list