Which to use
“cobalt” and “cobaye” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,520
- “cobalt” frequency rank
- #30,099
- “cobaye” frequency rank
- 52619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cobalt | cobaye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Élément chimique de symbole chimique Co et de numéro atomique 27. | Petit mammifère appelé aussi cochon d’Inde, rongeur d’origine sud-américaine. |
Where the eye mixes cobalt and cobaye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cobalt (CVCVCC) and cobaye (CVCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between cobalt and cobaye
A purely visual mix-up. cobalt (\kɔ.balt\) and cobaye (\kɔ.baj\) 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 52619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cobalt is recorded at frequency rank #22,520, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.balt\. cobaye is at rank #30,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.baj\.
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 52619, this pair ranks #146,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cobalt vs cobaye
Shared letters: abco. Private to "cobalt": lt. Private to "cobaye": ey.
"cobalt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "cobaye" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cobalt" and "cobaye" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cobalt" vs "cobaye" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cobalt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cobaye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cobalt" and "cobaye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coal vs cobalt". 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 #146,438 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.