cafard
\ka.faʁ\
The verdict
“cafard” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #25,916 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #25,916
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est faux dévot, hypocrite, bigot, mécréant
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cafard |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ka.faʁ\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #25,916 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cafard” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for cafard is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.faʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #25,916 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Qui est faux dévot, hypocrite, bigot, mécréant".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cafard, with forms such as "acfard", "caafrd", and "cafadr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "card", "canard", "canari", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is cafard, spelled C-A-F-A-R-D.
Definition
- 1Qui est faux dévot, hypocrite, bigot, mécréant
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acfard,caafrd,cafadr,cafardd,cafarrd,caffard,cafrad,ccafard,cfaard
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cafard - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cafard"?
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Using “cafard”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-A-F-A-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ka.faʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “card” - see the side-by-side comparison. cafard vs card
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.