Which to use
“jan” and “job” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,412
- “jan” frequency rank
- #3,145
- “job” frequency rank
- 11557
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jan | job |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des deux tables du jeu de trictrac. | Petit emploi, petit boulot, souvent faiblement rémunéré et temporaire. |
Where the eye mixes jan and job
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses jan with job
A purely visual mix-up. jan (\ʒɑ̃\) and job (\dʒɔb\) 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 11557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jan is recorded at frequency rank #8,412, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒɑ̃\. job is at rank #3,145, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʒɔb\.
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 11557, this pair ranks #408,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of jan vs job
Shared letters: j. Private to "jan": an. Private to "job": bo.
"jan" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "job" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "jan" for "job" ever safe?
Which is more common, "jan" or "job"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "jan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "job" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jan" and "job" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jan vs jor". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #408,726 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.