Which to use
“caucus” and “circus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,511
- “caucus” frequency rank
- #31,884
- “circus” frequency rank
- 62395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caucus | circus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Réunion à huis clos des membres d’un parti politique. | Nom scientifique des oiseaux du genre busard. |
Where the eye mixes caucus and circus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses caucus with circus
A purely visual mix-up. caucus (\ko.kys\) and circus (\siʁ.kys\) 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 62395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caucus is recorded at frequency rank #30,511, classified as anoun, pronounced \ko.kys\. circus is at rank #31,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siʁ.kys\.
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 62395, this pair ranks #87,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caucus vs circus
Shared letters: csu. Private to "caucus": a. Private to "circus": ir.
"caucus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "circus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caucus" and "circus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "caucus" vs "circus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "caucus" and "circus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caucus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "circus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caucus" and "circus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Circé vs circus". 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 #87,352 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.