Which to use
“cai” is a noun and “canin” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #40,652
- “canin” frequency rank
- 86697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | canin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Relatif au chien. |
Where the eye mixes cai and canin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against canin's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cai with canin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cai is \kaj\ while canin is \ka.nɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cai is recorded at frequency rank #46,045, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaj\. canin is at rank #40,652, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.nɛ̃\.
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 86697, this pair ranks #9,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs canin
Shared letters: aci. Private to "cai": -. Private to "canin": n.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "canin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- canin ← acnin · cainn · caninn · canni · cannin · ccanin · cnain
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cai" for "canin" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cai" or "canin"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "canin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "canin" 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 #9,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.