CAQvsciWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: CAQ is a name, ci is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“CAQ” is a name and “ci” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,509
“CAQ” frequency rank
#264
“ci” frequency rank
8773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature CAQ ci
Definition Coalition Avenir Québec, parti politique provincial autonomiste québécois de centre droite, élu pour la première fois en 2018. ou (Utilisé uniquement dans les compositions, pas utilisé isolément) Ici.

Where the eye mixes CAQ and ci

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
CAQ
2 ch
ci

Look-alike desk: CAQ vs ci

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: CAQ is \kak\ while ci is \si\. 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 (name vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

CAQ is recorded at frequency rank #8,509, classified as aname, pronounced \kak\. ci is at rank #264, tagged as anadv, pronounced \si\.

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 8773, this pair ranks #418,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of CAQ vs ci

Shared letters: c. Private to "CAQ": aq. Private to "ci": i.

"CAQ" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "ci" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "CAQ" for "ci" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "CAQ" is a name and "ci" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "CAQ" or "ci" show up more?
"ci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #264 in our French list, against #8,509 for "CAQ". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "CAQ" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #418,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "CAQ" and "ci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CAQ vs CCE". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #418,888 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