bordéevsborderWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bordée is a noun, border is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
bordée
6 ch
border

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • borderbborder · bodrer · bordder · borderr · bordre · boredr · borrder · obrder

Frequency comparison

bordée#18,136
border#23,469

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bordée" and "border" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bordée" is a noun and "border" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bordée" or "border"?
"bordée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,136 in our French list, against #23,469 for "border". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bordée vs border

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “bordée”; for a verb, it's “border”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bordée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list