Which to use
“caille” and “crible” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,126
- “caille” frequency rank
- #27,390
- “crible” frequency rank
- 50516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caille | crible |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vernaculaire normalisé donné à trois genres de petits gallinacés migrateurs de l’Ancien Monde comprenant un total de neuf espèces à plumage grivelé, exhibant souvent un patron très voyant de traits faciaux foncés et pâles en alternance, souvent chassées comme gibier, et dont la chair est réputée pour son fumet délicat. | Instrument percé d’un grand nombre de trous qui sert à trier des objets de grosseur ou de qualité inégales, en laissant passer les uns et en repoussant les autres. |
Where the eye mixes caille and crible
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caille (CVVCCV) and crible (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: caille vs crible
A purely visual mix-up. caille (\kɑj\) and crible (\kʁibl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caille is recorded at frequency rank #23,126, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɑj\. crible is at rank #27,390, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁibl\.
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 50516, this pair ranks #162,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caille vs crible
Shared letters: ceil. Private to "caille": a. Private to "crible": br.
"caille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "crible" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caille" and "crible" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "caille" or "crible"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caille" and "crible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caille vs cédille". 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 #162,056 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.