Which to use
“cabale” and “cobaye” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,505
- “cabale” frequency rank
- #30,099
- “cobaye” frequency rank
- 60604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabale | cobaye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tradition parmi les juifs substituant un sens mystique et allégorique au sens propre de l’Ancien Testament. | Petit mammifère appelé aussi cochon d’Inde, rongeur d’origine sud-américaine. |
Where the eye mixes cabale and cobaye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cabale (CVCVCV) and cobaye (CVCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between cabale and cobaye
A purely visual mix-up. cabale (\ka.bal\) and cobaye (\kɔ.baj\) 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 60604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cabale is recorded at frequency rank #30,505, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.bal\. cobaye is at rank #30,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.baj\.
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 60604, this pair ranks #96,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cabale vs cobaye
Shared letters: abce. Private to "cabale": l. Private to "cobaye": oy.
"cabale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "cobaye" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cabale" and "cobaye" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cabale" or "cobaye"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cabale" and "cobaye" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cobaye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabale" and "cobaye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabale vs Carle". 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 #96,779 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.