Which to use
“cai” and “clap” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #24,906
- “clap” frequency rank
- 70951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | clap |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Outil de cinématographie composé de deux planchettes reliées par une charnière, que l'on filme en train d'être rabattu, et en enregistre simultanément le son du claquement sec, en début de séquence de tournage, ceci permettant une synchronisation ultérieure de l'image et du son. |
Where the eye mixes cai and clap
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against clap'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 clap
A purely visual mix-up. cai (\kaj\) and clap (\klap\) 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 70951, 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\. clap is at rank #24,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klap\.
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 70951, this pair ranks #49,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs clap
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cai": i. Private to "clap": lp.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "clap" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clap ← calp · cclap · clapp · cllap · clpa · lcap
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cai" and "clap" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cai" or "clap"?
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 "clap" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "clap" 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 #49,370 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.