Which to use
“carcan” and “cran” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,088
- “carcan” frequency rank
- #10,304
- “cran” frequency rank
- 40392
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carcan | cran |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Entaille qu’on fait à un corps dur pour accrocher ou arrêter quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes carcan and cran
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. carcan runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cran's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses carcan with cran
A purely visual mix-up. carcan (\kaʁ.kɑ̃\) and cran (\kʁɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40392, 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\. cran is at rank #10,304, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃\.
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 40392, this pair ranks #240,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carcan vs cran
Shared letters: acnr. Private to "carcan": -. Private to "cran": -.
"carcan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "carcan" and "cran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "carcan" or "cran" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "carcan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #240,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carcan" and "cran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carcan vs Carnac". 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 #240,865 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.