bordéevsbordésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bordée is a noun, bordés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bordée” is a noun and “bordés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,136
“bordée” frequency rank
#48,950
“bordés” frequency rank
67086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bordée bordés
Definition Ligne de canons rangés de chaque bord d’un ancien navire. Masculin pluriel de bordé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
bordée
6 ch
bordés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: bordée and bordés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \bɔʁ.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “bordée” becomes s in “bordés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67086, 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\. bordés is at rank #48,950, tagged as anadj, 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 67086, this pair ranks #64,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bordée vs bordés

Shared letters: bdoré. Private to "bordée": e. Private to "bordés": s.

"bordée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "bordés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

bordée#18,136
bordés#48,950

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bordée" and "bordés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bordée" is a noun and "bordés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bordée" or "bordés"?
"bordée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,136 in our French list, against #48,950 for "bordés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bordée vs bordés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “bordée”; for an adjective, it's “bordés”.
  • 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