Which to use
“carton” and “caution” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,606
- “carton” frequency rank
- #7,426
- “caution” frequency rank
- 30032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carton | caution |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An inexpensive, disposable box-like container fashioned from either paper, paper with wax-covering (wax paper), or other lightweight material. | Prudence when faced with, or when expecting to face, danger; care taken in order to avoid risk or harm. |
Where the eye mixes carton and caution
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carton runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against caution's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between carton and caution
A purely visual mix-up. carton (/ˈkɑːtən/) and caution (/ˈkɔːʃ(ə)n/) 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 30032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carton is recorded at frequency rank #22,606, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑːtən/. caution is at rank #7,426, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔːʃ(ə)n/.
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 30032, this pair ranks #357,918 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carton vs caution
Shared letters: acnot. Private to "carton": r. Private to "caution": iu.
"carton" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "caution" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carton" for "caution" ever safe?
Which is more common, "carton" or "caution"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "carton" and "caution" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "carton" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caution" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,918 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carton" and "caution" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "captor vs carton". 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 #357,918 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.