cadet

/kəˈdɛt/

//kəˈdɛt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cadet" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cadet” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,261. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,261
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cadet · cadet · English

cadet · rank #18,261 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,261
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Byzantine

Nearest frequency peer: Byzantine (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “cadet”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “cadet” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

cadet vs cat
60% similar
cadet vs CET
0% similar
cadet vs care
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for cadet
PropertyValue
Headwordcadet
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kəˈdɛt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#18,261
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cadet”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).cadetlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Byzantine” (#18,260), “burying” (#18,259), “casing” (#18,263). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cadet” is #18,261. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around cadet (IPA /kəˈdɛt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,261 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cadet, with forms such as "acdet", "caddet", and "cadett". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cat", "CET", "care", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634. Doublet of caddie, cadeau, cadel, capital, capitellum, and caudillo. The correct English form is cadet, spelled C-A-D-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
  2. 2
    A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would.
  3. 3
    Junior. (See also the heraldic term cadency.)
  4. 4
    A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.
  5. 5
    A young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.
  6. 6
    A participant in a cadetship.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cadet appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Bertram is certainly well off for a cadet of even a Baronet's family. By the time he is four or five and twenty he will have seven hundred a year, and nothing to do for it.
  2. a cadet branch of the family

Etymology

Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634. Doublet of caddie, cadeau, cadel, capital, capitellum, and caudillo.

This word in other languages

cadet(Français)Kadett(Deutsch)cadete(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acdet
  • caddet
  • cadett
  • cadte
  • caedt
  • ccadet
  • cdaet

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cadet - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

acdet2caddet1cadett1cadte2caedt2ccadet1cdaet2
Edit distance from "cadet"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cadet"?
"cadet" is spelled C-A-D-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is /kəˈdɛt/.
What does "cadet" mean?
As a noun, "cadet" means: A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.
What words are commonly confused with "cadet"?
"cadet" is commonly confused with "cat", "CET", "care". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cadet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cadet" is /kəˈdɛt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "cadet"?
Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum (“small head”). Attested in English from 1634. Doublet of caddie, cadeau, cadel, capital, capitellum, and caudillo. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cadet", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Braun#18,256azure#18,245cords#18,281craze#18,283

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

bonnet7 variantsAkron7 variantsfaked7 variantsgiggle7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list