A1vsA3Confusable pair

Which to use

“A1” and “A3” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,858
“A1” frequency rank
#20,334
“A3” frequency rank
38192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature A1 A3
Definition Format d'une feuille de 594,6 mm sur 840,9. Format de papier mesurant 420 mm × 297 mm.

Where the eye mixes A1 and A3

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
A1
2 ch
A3

Visual trap between A1 and A3

A purely visual mix-up. A1 (\a.œ̃\) and A3 (\ɑ.tʁwa\) 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 a single letter - 1 in “A1” becomes 3 in “A3”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

A1 is recorded at frequency rank #17,858, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.œ̃\. A3 is at rank #20,334, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ.tʁwa\.

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 38192, this pair ranks #257,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of A1 vs A3

Shared letters: a. Private to "A1": -. Private to "A3": -.

"A1" · 1 letters · shape V  ·  "A3" · 1 letters · shape V

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "A1" for "A3" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\a.œ̃\ versus \ɑ.tʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "A1" or "A3" show up more?
"A1" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,858 in our French list, against #20,334 for "A3". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "A1" and "A3" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "A1" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "A3" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #257,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "A1" and "A3" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "A3 vs aur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #257,007 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