Which to use
“CDN” and “clan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,331
- “CDN” frequency rank
- #4,412
- “clan” frequency rank
- 47743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | CDN | clan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Réseau de diffusion de contenu. | Chez les Celtes, tribu formée d’un certain nombre de familles. |
Where the eye mixes CDN and clan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. CDN runs 3 letters (CCC) against clan's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses CDN with clan
A purely visual mix-up. CDN (\se.de.ɛn\) and clan (\klɑ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
CDN is recorded at frequency rank #43,331, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.de.ɛn\. clan is at rank #4,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \klɑ̃\.
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 47743, this pair ranks #184,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of CDN vs clan
Shared letters: cn. Private to "CDN": d. Private to "clan": al.
"CDN" · 3 letters · shape CCC · "clan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clan ← caln · cclan · clann · cllan · clna · lcan
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "CDN" and "clan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "CDN" vs "clan" - 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 "CDN" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "CDN" and "clan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CDN". 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 #184,489 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.