cadransvscransTell them apart

Which to use

“cadrans” and “crans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,210
“cadrans” frequency rank
#41,202
“crans” frequency rank
83412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadrans crans
Definition Pluriel de cadran. Pluriel de cran.

Where the eye mixes cadrans and crans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadrans runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against crans's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cadrans
5 ch
crans

Visual trap between cadrans and crans

A purely visual mix-up. cadrans (\ka.dʁɑ̃\) and crans (\kʁɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83412, 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\. crans is at rank #41,202, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃\.

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 83412, this pair ranks #14,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cadrans vs crans

Shared letters: acnrs. Private to "cadrans": d. Private to "crans": -.

"cadrans" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "crans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadransacdrans · cadarns · caddrans · cadranns · cadranss · cadrasn · cadrnas · cadrrans
  • cranscarns · ccrans · cranns · cranss · crasn · crnas · crrans · rcans

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadrans" and "crans" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.dʁɑ̃\ versus \kʁɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cadrans" or "crans"?
"crans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,202 in our French list, against #42,210 for "cadrans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadrans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadrans" and "crans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCAS vs crans". 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 #14,893 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list