Which to use
“flag” and “flan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,268
- “flag” frequency rank
- #23,213
- “flan” frequency rank
- 45481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flag | flan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Flagrant délit. | Sorte de tarte faite avec de la crème, des œufs et de la farine. |
Where the eye mixes flag and flan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses flag with flan
A purely visual mix-up. flag (\flaɡ\) and flan (\flɑ̃\) 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 a single letter - g in “flag” becomes n in “flan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flag is recorded at frequency rank #22,268, classified as anoun, pronounced \flaɡ\. flan is at rank #23,213, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flɑ̃\.
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 45481, this pair ranks #202,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flag vs flan
Shared letters: afl. Private to "flag": g. Private to "flan": n.
"flag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "flan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flag" and "flan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "flag" vs "flan" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "flag" and "flan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "flag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flag" and "flan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ffa vs flan". 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 #202,423 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.