caivscsiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“cai” and “csi” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,045
“cai” frequency rank
#30,552
“csi” frequency rank
76597
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cai csi
Definition Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. Ksi.

Where the eye mixes cai and csi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cai (CVV) and csi (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
cai
3 ch
csi

Visual trap between cai and csi

A purely visual mix-up. cai (\kaj\) and csi (\ˈksi\) 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 a single letter - a in “cai” becomes s in “csi”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76597, 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\. csi is at rank #30,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈksi\.

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 76597, this pair ranks #30,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cai vs csi

Shared letters: ci. Private to "cai": a. Private to "csi": s.

"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "csi" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cai" for "csi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kaj\ versus \ˈksi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cai" or "csi"?
"csi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,552 in our French list, against #46,045 for "cai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cai" and "csi" 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 "csi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cai" and "csi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cai vs CCE". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,669 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list