cactus

\kak.tys\

/\kak.tys\/ noun

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

The verdict

“cactus” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #17,357. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,357
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Famille de plantes succulentes dont la tige est en général charnue, garnie d’aiguillons en faisceaux et ordinairement dépourvue de feuilles. Ce sont des plantes dites xérophytes qui stockent dans l...

Corpus desk

Index FR-cactus · cactus · French

cactus · rank #17,357 · 9 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,357
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bolloré

Nearest frequency peer: Bolloré (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « cactus »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « cactus » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

cactus vs cats
67% similar
cactus vs camus
67% similar
cactus vs casus
67% similar

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

Key facts for cactus
PropertyValue
Headwordcactus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kak.tys\
Letters6
Frequency rank#17,357
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « cactus »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).cactusse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Bolloré » (#17,356), « Cahuzac » (#17,358), « bibliothécaire » (#17,355). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cactus » est au #17,357. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around cactus (IPA \kak.tys\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #17,357 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cactus, with forms such as "acctus", "cacctus", and "cactsu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "cats", "camus", "casus", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is cactus, spelled C-A-C-T-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Famille de plantes succulentes dont la tige est en général charnue, garnie d’aiguillons en faisceaux et ordinairement dépourvue de feuilles. Ce sont des plantes dites xérophytes qui stockent dans leurs tissus des réserves de suc pour faire face aux longues périodes de sécheresse. → voir Cactaceae
  2. 2
    Nom parfois utilisé à tort pour désigner des plantes succulentes, pourvues ou non d'épine et qui ressemblent à des cactus sans être de cette famille de plante (par exemple certaines euphorbes).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Comme un coup de tonnerre au milieu du silence, Dans le poudroîment d’or du pollen qu’elle lance, S’épanouit la fleur des cactus embrasés.
  2. Le jour s'élevait peu à peu. Sous les haies de cactus en raquette séjournaient des brumes courbes comme des montées de neige.

Synonyms

cactéecactier

This word in other languages

cactus(English)cactus(Español)Kaktus(Deutsch)cacto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acctus
  • cacctus
  • cactsu
  • cacttus
  • cactuss
  • cacuts
  • catcus
  • ccactus
  • ccatus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cactus - 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.

acctus2cacctus1cactsu2cacttus1cactuss1cacuts2catcus2ccactus1
Edit distance from "cactus"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cactus"?
"cactus" is spelled C-A-C-T-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \kak.tys\.
What does "cactus" mean?
As a noun, "cactus" means: Famille de plantes succulentes dont la tige est en général charnue, garnie d’aiguillons en faisceaux et ordinairement dépourvue de feuilles. Ce sont des plantes dites xérophytes qui stockent dans l...
What words are commonly confused with "cactus"?
"cactus" is commonly confused with "cats", "camus", "casus". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cactus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cactus" is \kak.tys\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cactus" come from?
"cactus" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Beauce#17,354bannir#17,353carême#17,362castor#17,363

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Bolloré9 variantschartes9 variantsaucunes9 variantsappellera9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list