caresse

\ka.ʁɛs\

/\ka.ʁɛs\/ noun

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

The verdict

“caresse” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,747. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,747
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
16
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Témoignage d’affection, de tendresse ou de sensualité que l’on donne à quelqu’un, en geste ou en paroles.

Corpus desk

Index FR-caresse · caresse · French

caresse · rank #13,747 · 8 variants · 16 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,747
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Camerounais

Nearest frequency peer: Camerounais (-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 « caresse »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « caresse » 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).

caresse vs casse
71% similar
caresse vs cesse
71% similar
caresse vs creusé
57% similar

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

Key facts for caresse
PropertyValue
Headwordcaresse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.ʁɛs\
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,747
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs16
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « caresse »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.caressese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Camerounais » (#13,746), « choisies » (#13,748), « Clarke » (#13,749). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « caresse » est au #13,747. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around caresse (IPA \ka.ʁɛs\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,747 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for caresse, with forms such as "acresse", "caersse", and "carese". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "casse", "cesse", "creusé", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is caresse, spelled C-A-R-E-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Témoignage d’affection, de tendresse ou de sensualité que l’on donne à quelqu’un, en geste ou en paroles.
  2. 2
    On le dit également des animaux.
  3. 3
    Se dit aussi des choses.
  4. 4
    Témoignage par paroles d’une affection plus ou moins sincère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce n’était point une linition douce, une fomentation onctueuse, mais un massage vigoureux, pratiqué à bras raccourcis, et qui rappelait plutôt les éraillures de l’étrille que les caresses de la main.
  2. Aussi, Line ayant l’instinct des caresses en même temps que le désir d’en être l’heureux objet, elle ne doutait pas un instant que les faveurs de son amant ne dussent aborder peu à peu à toutes les parties de son corps où il serait doux de les attendre, et délicieux de les retenir.

This word in other languages

caress(English)caricia(Español)Liebkosung(Deutsch)carinho(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acresse
  • caersse
  • carese
  • careses
  • carresse
  • carsese
  • ccaresse
  • craesse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

acresse2caersse2carese1careses2carresse1carsese2ccaresse1craesse2
Edit distance from "caresse"

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 "caresse"?
"caresse" is spelled C-A-R-E-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.ʁɛs\.
What does "caresse" mean?
As a noun, "caresse" means: Témoignage d’affection, de tendresse ou de sensualité que l’on donne à quelqu’un, en geste ou en paroles.
What words are commonly confused with "caresse"?
"caresse" is commonly confused with "casse", "cesse", "creusé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "caresse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "caresse" is \ka.ʁɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "caresse" come from?
"caresse" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "caresse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

boivent#13,743commode#13,752batteur#13,740compact#13,754

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

crevé8 variantsAmanda8 variantsdealer8 variantsAfrica8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list