Which to use
“circuits” and “circus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,596
- “circuits” frequency rank
- #31,884
- “circus” frequency rank
- 38480
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | circuits | circus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de circuit. | Nom scientifique des oiseaux du genre busard. |
Where the eye mixes circuits and circus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses circuits with circus
A purely visual mix-up. circuits (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
circuits is recorded at frequency rank #6,596, 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 38480, this pair ranks #254,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of circuits vs circus
Shared letters: cirsu. Private to "circuits": t. Private to "circus": -.
"circuits" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "circus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "circuits" and "circus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "circuits" or "circus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "circuits" 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 #254,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "circuits" 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 #254,958 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.