Which to use
“carcan” and “carlin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,088
- “carcan” frequency rank
- #41,172
- “carlin” frequency rank
- 71260
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carcan | carlin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cercle de fer ou plaque en bois avec des trous pour le cou et les poignets avec lequel on attachait par le cou à un poteau certains criminels condamnés au pilori. | Race de petit chien de compagnie molossoïde, type dogue provenant de Chine, à museau écrasé et noir, à poil ras, de couleur sable, noir ou marron très foncé. |
Where the eye mixes carcan and carlin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. carcan and carlin follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses carcan with carlin
A purely visual mix-up. carcan (\kaʁ.kɑ̃\) and carlin (\kaʁ.lɛ̃\) 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 71260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carcan is recorded at frequency rank #30,088, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʁ.kɑ̃\. carlin is at rank #41,172, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaʁ.lɛ̃\.
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 71260, this pair ranks #48,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of carcan vs carlin
Shared letters: acnr. Private to "carcan": -. Private to "carlin": il.
"carcan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "carlin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "carcan" and "carlin" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "carcan" vs "carlin" - which ranks higher?
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 "carcan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carlin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carcan" and "carlin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Carlier vs carlin". 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 #48,223 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.