Which to use
“cafards” is an adjective and “canard” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,137
- “cafards” frequency rank
- #4,915
- “canard” frequency rank
- 29052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cafards | canard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de cafard. | Oiseau aquatique palmipède dont la chair est très recherchée, qu’il vive à l’état sauvage ou à l’état domestique. |
Where the eye mixes cafards and canard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cafards with canard
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cafards is \ka.faʁ\ while canard is \ka.naʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cafards is recorded at frequency rank #24,137, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.faʁ\. canard is at rank #4,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.naʁ\.
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 29052, this pair ranks #319,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cafards vs canard
Shared letters: acdr. Private to "cafards": fs. Private to "canard": n.
"cafards" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "canard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cafards" for "canard" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cafards" or "canard" show up more?
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 "cafards" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "canard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cafards" and "canard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cafards vs canaris". 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 #319,010 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.