Which to use
“bordée” is a noun and “border” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,136
- “bordée” frequency rank
- #23,469
- “border” frequency rank
- 41605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bordée | border |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ligne de canons rangés de chaque bord d’un ancien navire. | Garnir sur le bord d’un ruban, d’un galon, d’un morceau d’étoffe, de toile, etc. |
Same sound, different letters: bordée vs border
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. bordée (CVCCVV) and border (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - bordée and border
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: bordée and border carry the same recorded pronunciation, \bɔʁ.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bordée is recorded at frequency rank #18,136, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɔʁ.de\. border is at rank #23,469, tagged as averb, pronounced \bɔʁ.de\.
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 41605, this pair ranks #231,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bordée vs border
Shared letters: bdeor. Private to "bordée": é. Private to "border": -.
"bordée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "border" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- border ← bborder · bodrer · bordder · borderr · bordre · boredr · borrder · obrder
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bordée" for "border" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bordée" vs "border" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "bordée" / "border". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "bordée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "border" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bordée" and "border" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "border vs brider". 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 #231,873 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.