Which to use
“shan” and “sign” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,590
- “shan” frequency rank
- #31,257
- “sign” frequency rank
- 67847
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shan | sign |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue de la famille tai-kadai parlée en Birmanie, en Chine et en Thaïlande par les Shans. | Panneau (routier, de rue) ; panonceau ; pancarte (sur un mur, une vitrine, etc.) ; affiche (publicitaire), écriteau (handmade sign). |
Where the eye mixes shan and sign
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. shan (CCVC) and sign (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses shan with sign
A purely visual mix-up. shan (\ʃan\) and sign (\saɪn\) 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 67847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shan is recorded at frequency rank #36,590, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃan\. sign is at rank #31,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \saɪn\.
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 67847, this pair ranks #61,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shan vs sign
Shared letters: ns. Private to "shan": ah. Private to "sign": gi.
"shan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sign" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shan" for "sign" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shan" or "sign"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "shan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sign" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shan" and "sign" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shan vs swag". 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 #61,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.