Which to use
“cai” and “caux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #38,692
- “caux” frequency rank
- 84737
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | caux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Mélange de choux, de navets et de pommes que l’on donne aux vaches et aux cochons. |
Where the eye mixes cai and caux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against caux's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cai and caux
A purely visual mix-up. cai (\kaj\) and caux (\ko\) 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 84737, 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\. caux is at rank #38,692, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ko\.
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 84737, this pair ranks #12,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs caux
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cai": i. Private to "caux": ux.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "caux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- caux ← acux · cauxx · caxu · ccaux · cuax
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cai" for "caux" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cai" or "caux" show up more?
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 "cai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "caux" 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 #12,455 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.