Which to use
“bourrage” and “bourre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,775
- “bourrage” frequency rank
- #17,887
- “bourre” frequency rank
- 60662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bourrage | bourre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de bourrer. | Amas de poils détachés de la peau de certains animaux à poil ras, tels que les bovins, les chevaux, etc. |
Where the eye mixes bourrage and bourre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bourrage and bourre
A purely visual mix-up. bourrage (\bu.ʁaʒ\) and bourre (\buʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bourrage is recorded at frequency rank #42,775, classified as anoun, pronounced \bu.ʁaʒ\. bourre is at rank #17,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced \buʁ\.
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 60662, this pair ranks #96,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bourrage vs bourre
Shared letters: beoru. Private to "bourrage": ag. Private to "bourre": -.
"bourrage" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV · "bourre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bourrage" for "bourre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bourrage" vs "bourre" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bourrage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bourre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bourrage" and "bourre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bourgade vs bourrage". 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 #96,461 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.