Which to use
“câble” and “caire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,849
- “câble” frequency rank
- #7,938
- “caire” frequency rank
- 12787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | câble | caire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gros cordage formé de l’assemblage de plusieurs torons de chanvre, d’aloès, d’acier, etc. | Étoupe de fibres de coco. |
Where the eye mixes câble and caire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. câble (CVCCV) and caire (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between câble and caire
A purely visual mix-up. câble (\kabl\) and caire (\kɛʁ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
câble is recorded at frequency rank #4,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \kabl\. caire is at rank #7,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɛʁ\.
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 12787, this pair ranks #403,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of câble vs caire
Shared letters: ce. Private to "câble": blâ. Private to "caire": air.
"câble" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "caire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- caire ← cairre · ccaire · ciare
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "câble" and "caire" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "câble" vs "caire" - which ranks higher?
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 "câble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "câble" and "caire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caire vs ciro". 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 #403,766 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.