Which to use
“air” and “arc” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #341
- “air” frequency rank
- #3,180
- “arc” frequency rank
- 3521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | air | arc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mélange gazeux constituant l’atmosphère. | Arme de trait servant à lancer des flèches, formée d’une branche de bois ou d’une verge, soit de métal, soit d’autre matière, courbée avec effort au moyen d’une corde qui s’attache aux deux extrémités. |
Where the eye mixes air and arc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses air with arc
A purely visual mix-up. air (\ɛʁ\) and arc (\aʁk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
air is recorded at frequency rank #341, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛʁ\. arc is at rank #3,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁk\.
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 3521, this pair ranks #433,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of air vs arc
Shared letters: ar. Private to "air": i. Private to "arc": c.
"air" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "arc" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "air" for "arc" ever safe?
Which is more common, "air" or "arc"?
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 "air" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "air" and "arc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arc vs aur". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #433,827 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.