Which to use
“circuit” and “circus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,706
- “circuit” frequency rank
- #31,884
- “circus” frequency rank
- 34590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | circuit | circus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pourtour d’un lieu déterminé. | Nom scientifique des oiseaux du genre busard. |
Where the eye mixes circuit and circus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between circuit and circus
A purely visual mix-up. circuit (\siʁ.kɥi\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
circuit is recorded at frequency rank #2,706, classified as anoun, pronounced \siʁ.kɥi\. 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 34590, this pair ranks #282,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of circuit vs circus
Shared letters: ciru. Private to "circuit": t. Private to "circus": s.
"circuit" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "circus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "circuit" and "circus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "circuit" vs "circus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "circuit" and "circus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "circuit" 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 #282,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "circuit" 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 #282,750 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.