A bazaar is a market, especially a Middle Eastern or South Asian one, and by extension a charity sale. Bizarre means strikingly strange. They sound nearly identical and share nothing else — one is a noun from Persian, the other an adjective from French.
The core difference
A noun and an adjective, from different languages, sounding the same.
- bazaar — a market: the spice bazaar, a church bazaar.
- bizarre — strange: a bizarre coincidence.
The origins
Bazaar is from Persian bāzār, market, reaching English through Italian. Bizarre is from French, and possibly from Basque bizar, beard — the theory being that bearded Spanish soldiers struck the French as odd-looking. That etymology is disputed but it is the best-known account.
The test
If it is a thing you can visit, it is a bazaar. If it describes something, it is bizarre. A noun and an adjective cannot substitute for each other, so the grammar settles it.
Frequently asked questions
Which spelling means strange?
Bizarre. A bazaar is a market.
Are the words related?
No. Bazaar is Persian via Italian; bizarre is French, possibly from a Basque word for beard.
What is a church bazaar?
A sale of goods to raise funds — an extension of the market sense.