Which to use
“corbin” and “cordon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,729
- “corbin” frequency rank
- #9,457
- “cordon” frequency rank
- 48186
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | corbin | cordon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ancien synonyme de corbeau ou de grand corbeau (oiseau). | Petite corde, par exemple utilisée pour tirer un mécanisme, une sonnette, … → voir cordon de tirage et tirer le cordon |
Where the eye mixes corbin and cordon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses corbin with cordon
A purely visual mix-up. corbin (\kɔʁ.bɛ̃\) and cordon (\kɔʁ.dɔ̃\) 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 48186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
corbin is recorded at frequency rank #38,729, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.bɛ̃\. cordon is at rank #9,457, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.dɔ̃\.
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 48186, this pair ranks #180,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of corbin vs cordon
Shared letters: cnor. Private to "corbin": bi. Private to "cordon": d.
"corbin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cordon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "corbin" for "cordon" ever safe?
Which is more common, "corbin" or "cordon"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "corbin" and "cordon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "corbin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cordon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "corbin" and "cordon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cardin vs corbin". 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 #180,941 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.