Which to use
“bourgs” and “bourne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,078
- “bourgs” frequency rank
- #31,857
- “bourne” frequency rank
- 59935
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bourgs | bourne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bourg. | , Nasse, casier en bois pour piéger les écrevisses, les homards, les crustacés en général. |
Where the eye mixes bourgs and bourne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bourgs (CVVCCC) and bourne (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: bourgs vs bourne
A purely visual mix-up. bourgs (\buʁ\) and bourne (\buʁn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bourgs is recorded at frequency rank #28,078, classified as anoun, pronounced \buʁ\. bourne is at rank #31,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced \buʁn\.
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 59935, this pair ranks #100,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bourgs vs bourne
Shared letters: boru. Private to "bourgs": gs. Private to "bourne": en.
"bourgs" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "bourne" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bourgs" for "bourne" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bourgs" or "bourne"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bourgs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bourne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bourgs" and "bourne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bourdes vs bourne". 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 #100,368 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.