How do you say “As blind as a bat” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is myope comme une taupe, which literally means “short-sighted like a mole”. English speakers use as blind as a bat to mean unable to see well. A familiar French comparison for very poor distance vision. It is more specifically about short-sightedness than the English. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural French
myope comme une taupe
/mjɔp kɔm yn top/
- Literal meaning
- “short-sighted like a mole”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
90 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
French replaces the bat with a mole. It works well in a joke about needing glasses to recognise someone across the street.
It is not the right description for every kind of sight loss. For a temporary problem seeing something, “je n’y vois rien” simply means I cannot see a thing.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning4 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context4 out of 5
- Literal similarity4 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
Without my glasses, I'm as blind as a bat and can't read that sign.
French
Sans mes lunettes, je suis myope comme une taupe et je n'arrive pas à lire ce panneau.
English
I was as blind as a bat without my lenses and waved at the wrong person.
French
Sans mes lentilles, j'étais myope comme une taupe et j'ai fait signe à la mauvaise personne.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-10-01