Which to use
“cadrans” and “caïmans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,210
- “cadrans” frequency rank
- #37,717
- “caïmans” frequency rank
- 79927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cadrans | caïmans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cadran. | Pluriel de caïman. |
Where the eye mixes cadrans and caïmans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadrans and caïmans follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cadrans with caïmans
A purely visual mix-up. cadrans (\ka.dʁɑ̃\) and caïmans (\ka.i.mɑ̃\) 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 79927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cadrans is recorded at frequency rank #42,210, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.dʁɑ̃\. caïmans is at rank #37,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.i.mɑ̃\.
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 79927, this pair ranks #22,128 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cadrans vs caïmans
Shared letters: acns. Private to "cadrans": dr. Private to "caïmans": mï.
"cadrans" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "caïmans" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cadrans ← acdrans · cadarns · caddrans · cadranns · cadranss · cadrasn · cadrnas · cadrrans
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cadrans" for "caïmans" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cadrans" vs "caïmans" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cadrans" and "caïmans" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cadrans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caïmans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,128 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cadrans" and "caïmans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïmans vs calmant". 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 #22,128 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.