carton

\kaʁ.tɔ̃\

/\kaʁ.tɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“carton” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,215. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,215
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Papier gros et raide (plus de 224 g au mètre carré), composé parfois de feuilles collées.

Corpus desk

Index FR-carton · carton · French

carton · rank #4,215 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,215
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Californie

Nearest frequency peer: Californie (-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 « carton »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « carton » 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).

carton vs coton
67% similar
carton vs catin
67% similar
carton vs caton
83% similar

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

Key facts for carton
PropertyValue
Headwordcarton
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kaʁ.tɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#4,215
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « carton »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).cartonse 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 « Californie » (#4,214), « catholiques » (#4,216), « bible » (#4,213). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « carton » est au #4,215. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around carton (IPA \kaʁ.tɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,215 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 16 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for carton, with forms such as "acrton", "carotn", and "carrton". 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, "coton", "catin", "caton", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is carton, spelled C-A-R-T-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Papier gros et raide (plus de 224 g au mètre carré), composé parfois de feuilles collées.
  2. 2
    Carton-pâte qui sert à la fabrication de divers autres objets.
  3. 3
    Boîte ou emballage, le plus souvent fait de ce matériau.
  4. 4
    Plaque de carton qui sert de cible dans un tir. → voir faire un carton.
  5. 5
    Ébauche, tracé, modèle sur du papier, d’après lesquels le peintre fait sa fresque, ou qu’on donne aux ouvriers en tapisseries pour recopier.
  6. 6
    Feuille chantournée qui sert à tracer des profils.
  7. 7
    Feuillet d’impression détachés d’une feuille entière.
  8. 8
    Feuillet qu’on refait, à cause de quelques fautes qu’on y veut corriger ou de quelque changement qu’on y veut faire.
  9. 9
    Succès.
  10. 10
    Se dit de quelque chose qui est en projet, en préparation.
  11. 11
    Accident.
  12. 12
    Forme courte de carton publicitaire.
  13. 13
    Carte complémentaire d’une carte principale, figurant sur la même feuille et souvent établie à une échelle différente.
  14. 14
    Carte de bristol placée devant chaque couvert d'une table et indiquant les noms des convives.
  15. 15
    Se dit de quelqu'un ou de quelque chose de faux, de factice.
  16. 16
    Intertitre, texte filmé à l'écran.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Feuille de carton.
  2. Boîte de carton.

This word in other languages

cardboard(English)cartón(Español)Karton(Deutsch)cartão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acrton
  • carotn
  • carrton
  • cartno
  • cartonn
  • cartton
  • catron
  • ccarton
  • craton

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of carton - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

acrton2carotn2carrton1cartno2cartonn1cartton1catron2ccarton1
Edit distance from "carton"

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 "carton"?
"carton" is spelled C-A-R-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kaʁ.tɔ̃\.
What does "carton" mean?
As a noun, "carton" means: Papier gros et raide (plus de 224 g au mètre carré), composé parfois de feuilles collées.
What words are commonly confused with "carton"?
"carton" is commonly confused with "coton", "catin", "caton". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "carton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "carton" is \kaʁ.tɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "carton" come from?
"carton" 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 "carton", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

benoît#4,212chimie#4,218basket#4,211dégâts#4,228

Similar misspelling depth

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

stable9 variantsJustin9 variantslégale9 variantsmarcel9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list