Which to use
“aba” and “alan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,886
- “aba” frequency rank
- #6,778
- “alan” frequency rank
- 55664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aba | alan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manteau de laine en usage en Turquie et dans l’ancienne Perse. | Gros chien de la race des dogues, propre à chasser le sanglier. |
Where the eye mixes aba and alan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. aba runs 3 letters (VCV) against alan's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: aba vs alan
A purely visual mix-up. aba (\a.ba\) and alan (\a.lɑ̃\) 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 55664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aba is recorded at frequency rank #48,886, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ba\. alan is at rank #6,778, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.lɑ̃\.
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 55664, this pair ranks #126,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aba vs alan
Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "alan": ln.
"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "alan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- alan ← aaln · alann · alna · laan
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "aba" and "alan" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "aba" or "alan" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aba" and "alan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aba vs aur". 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 #126,027 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.