Which to use
“blade” and “blank” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,937
- “blade” frequency rank
- #44,898
- “blank” frequency rank
- 65835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blade | blank |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de oblade (poisson). | Partie principale d’une canne à lancer, faite d’un ou plusieurs brins en bambou, fibre de verre ou de carbone... |
Where the eye mixes blade and blank
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blade and blank
A purely visual mix-up. blade (\blad\) and blank (\blɑ̃k\) 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 65835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blade is recorded at frequency rank #20,937, classified as anoun, pronounced \blad\. blank is at rank #44,898, tagged as anoun, pronounced \blɑ̃k\.
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 65835, this pair ranks #70,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of blade vs blank
Shared letters: abl. Private to "blade": de. Private to "blank": kn.
"blade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "blank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blade" for "blank" ever safe?
Which is more common, "blade" or "blank"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "blade" and "blank" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blank" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blade" and "blank" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bane vs blank". 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 #70,564 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.