Which to use
“cage” and “cai” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,639
- “cage” frequency rank
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- 51684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cage | cai |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite loge portative faite de fils de fer ou de menus bâtons d’osier et dans laquelle on enferme ordinairement des petits animaux. | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. |
Where the eye mixes cage and cai
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cage runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cai's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cage and cai
A purely visual mix-up. cage (\kaʒ\) and cai (\kaj\) 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 51684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cage is recorded at frequency rank #5,639, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʒ\. cai is at rank #46,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaj\.
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 51684, this pair ranks #153,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cage vs cai
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cage": eg. Private to "cai": i.
"cage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cage ← acge · caeg · cagge · ccage · cgae
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cage" for "cai" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cage" or "cai"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cage" and "cai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cai vs CCE". 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 #153,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.