Which to use
“câble” and “cambre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,849
- “câble” frequency rank
- #42,213
- “cambre” frequency rank
- 47062
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | câble | cambre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gros cordage formé de l’assemblage de plusieurs torons de chanvre, d’aloès, d’acier, etc. | Cambrure. |
Where the eye mixes câble and cambre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: câble vs cambre
A purely visual mix-up. câble (\kabl\) and cambre (\kɑ̃bʁ\) 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 47062, 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\. cambre is at rank #42,213, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɑ̃bʁ\.
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 47062, this pair ranks #189,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of câble vs cambre
Shared letters: bce. Private to "câble": lâ. Private to "cambre": amr.
"câble" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cambre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cambre ← acmbre · cabmre · cambbre · camber · cambrre · cammbre · camrbe · ccambre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "câble" for "cambre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "câble" or "cambre"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "câble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cambre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "câble" and "cambre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cambon vs cambre". 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 #189,941 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.