bordéesvsbordelWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bordées is a adjective, bordel is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#33,148
“bordées” frequency rank
#1,852
“bordel” frequency rank
35000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bordées bordel
Definition Féminin pluriel de bordé. Établissement où se pratique la prostitution.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
bordées
6 ch
bordel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bordées is \bɔʁ.de\ while bordel is \bɔʁ.dɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bordées is recorded at frequency rank #33,148, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɔʁ.de\. bordel is at rank #1,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔʁ.dɛl\.

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 35000, this pair ranks #279,884 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bordées vs bordel

Shared letters: bdeor. Private to "bordées": . Private to "bordel": l.

"bordées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "bordel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bordelbbordel · bodrel · borddel · bordell · bordle · boredl · borrdel · brodel

Frequency comparison

bordées#33,148
bordel#1,852

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bordées" and "bordel" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bordées" is an adjective and "bordel" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bordées" or "bordel"?
"bordel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,852 in our French list, against #33,148 for "bordées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering bordées vs bordel

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “bordées”; for a noun, it's “bordel”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bordées” 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