Which to use
“cai” is a noun and “clac” is an onomatopoeia - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #36,310
- “clac” frequency rank
- 82355
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | clac |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Onomatopée qui traduit un bruit sec et rapide. |
Where the eye mixes cai and clac
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against clac's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cai with clac
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cai is \kaj\ while clac is \klak\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs onomatopoeia), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82355, 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\. clac is at rank #36,310, tagged as anonomatopoeia, pronounced \klak\.
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 82355, this pair ranks #16,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs clac
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cai": i. Private to "clac": l.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "clac" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clac ← calc · cclac · clacc · clca · cllac · lcac
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cai" and "clac" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cai" or "clac"?
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 "cai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clac" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "clac" 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 #16,910 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.