Which to use
“jack” and “jan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,782
- “jack” frequency rank
- #8,412
- “jan” frequency rank
- 11194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jack | jan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prise, fiche mâle. | Chacune des deux tables du jeu de trictrac. |
Where the eye mixes jack and jan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: jack vs jan
A purely visual mix-up. jack (\dʒak\) and jan (\ʒɑ̃\) 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 11194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jack is recorded at frequency rank #2,782, classified as anoun, pronounced \dʒak\. jan is at rank #8,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɑ̃\.
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 11194, this pair ranks #410,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of jack vs jan
Shared letters: aj. Private to "jack": ck. Private to "jan": n.
"jack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "jan" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- jack ← ajck · jacck · jackk · jakc · jcak · jjack
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "jack" for "jan" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "jack" or "jan" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "jack" and "jan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "jack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jack" and "jan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jan vs jor". 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 #410,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.