carafe
\ka.ʁaf\
The verdict
“carafe” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #35,851 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #35,851
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sorte de bouteille de verre ou de cristal, avec ou sans bouchon, plus large par le bas que par le haut, qui sert principalement à contenir l’eau et quelquefois le vin ou les liqueurs que l’on sert ...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | carafe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ka.ʁaf\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #35,851 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “carafe” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for carafe is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.ʁaf\. Corpus data places it at rank #35,851 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for carafe, with forms such as "acrafe", "caarfe", and "caraef". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "care", "carte", "carré", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is carafe, spelled C-A-R-A-F-E.
Definition
- 1Sorte de bouteille de verre ou de cristal, avec ou sans bouchon, plus large par le bas que par le haut, qui sert principalement à contenir l’eau et quelquefois le vin ou les liqueurs que l’on sert à table.
- 2Quantité de liquide contenue dans une carafe.
- 3Tête.
- 4Événement fâcheux et imprévu.
- 5Récipient cylindrique en verre, avec poignée, bec et couvercle troué, conçu pour s’intégrer à une cafetière à filtre.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acrafe,caarfe,caraef,caraffe,carfae,carrafe,ccarafe,craafe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of carafe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "carafe"?
What does "carafe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "carafe"?
How do you pronounce "carafe"?
What language does "carafe" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “carafe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-A-R-A-F-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ka.ʁaf\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “care” - see the side-by-side comparison. carafe vs care
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.