branlevsbranléeTell them apart

Which to use

“branle” and “branlée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,281
“branle” frequency rank
#39,191
“branlée” frequency rank
48472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature branle branlée
Definition Oscillation, mouvement qui porte un corps tantôt d’un côté, tantôt de l’autre; l'espace ainsi parcouru. Sonnerie de cloche.

Where the eye mixes branle and branlée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. branle runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against branlée's 7 (CCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
branle
7 ch
branlée

Visual trap between branle and branlée

A purely visual mix-up. branle (\bʁɑ̃l\) and branlée (\bʁɑ̃.le\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

branle is recorded at frequency rank #9,281, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁɑ̃l\. branlée is at rank #39,191, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɑ̃.le\.

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 48472, this pair ranks #178,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of branle vs branlée

Shared letters: abelnr. Private to "branle": -. Private to "branlée": é.

"branle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "branlée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • branle ← barnle · bbranle · bralne · branel · branlle · brannle · brnale · brranle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "branle" and "branlée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bʁɑ̃l\ versus \bʁɑ̃.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "branle" vs "branlée" - which ranks higher?
"branle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,281 in our French list, against #39,191 for "branlée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "branle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "branlée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "branle" and "branlée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "branlée vs branles". 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 #178,627 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list