Which to use
“cages” and “cane” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,563
- “cages” frequency rank
- #32,725
- “cane” frequency rank
- 49288
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cages | cane |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cage. | Femelle du canard. |
Where the eye mixes cages and cane
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cages runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cane's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cages vs cane
A purely visual mix-up. cages (\kaʒ\) and cane (\kan\) 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 49288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cages is recorded at frequency rank #16,563, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʒ\. cane is at rank #32,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kan\.
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 49288, this pair ranks #171,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cages vs cane
Shared letters: ace. Private to "cages": gs. Private to "cane": n.
"cages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cane" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cages" for "cane" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cages" vs "cane" - which ranks higher?
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 "cages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cane" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cages" and "cane" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cane vs conde". 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 #171,903 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.