Which to use
“cai” and “chain” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #29,689
- “chain” frequency rank
- 75734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | chain |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Chaîne. |
Where the eye mixes cai and chain
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against chain's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cai and chain
A purely visual mix-up. cai (\kaj\) and chain (\t͡ʃeɪn\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75734, 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\. chain is at rank #29,689, tagged as anoun, pronounced \t͡ʃeɪn\.
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 75734, this pair ranks #33,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs chain
Shared letters: aci. Private to "cai": -. Private to "chain": hn.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "chain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chain ← cahin · cchain · chainn · chani · chhain · hcain
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cai" and "chain" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cai" or "chain" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cai" and "chain" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chain" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "chain" 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 #33,155 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.