Which to use
“kana” and “kao” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,533
- “kana” frequency rank
- #47,406
- “kao” frequency rank
- 91939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kana | kao |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractère japonais qui note une more (et non pas forcément une syllabe). | Champs |
Letter map: kana vs kao
Shared letters muted; letters that set kana and kao apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. kana runs 4 letters (CVCV) against kao's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - kana / kao
kana and kao are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kana is recorded at frequency rank #44,533, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.na\. kao is at rank #47,406, tagged as anoun.
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 91939, this pair ranks #3,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of kana vs kao
Shared letters: ak. Private to "kana": n. Private to "kao": o.
"kana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "kao" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- kana ← akna · kaan · kanna · kkana · knaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kana" for "kao" ever safe?
Frequency check: "kana" vs "kao" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "kana" and "kao". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "kana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kana" and "kao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kao vs ky". 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 #3,398 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.