carton

/\kaʁ.tɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#4,215

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

carton is aFrenchnoun. It means: Papier gros et raide (plus de 224 g au mètre carré), composé parfois de feuilles collées. Pronounced \kaʁ.tɔ̃\. It ranks #4,215 in French word frequency. Often confused with coton and catin.

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)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of carton in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for carton is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kaʁ.tɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,215 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for carton, with forms such as "acrton", "carotn", and "carrton". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.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.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is carton, spelled C-A-R-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: acrton,carotn,carrton,cartno,cartonn,cartton,catron,ccarton,craton

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for carton

Misspelling Variants of "carton"

acrton6carotn6carrton7cartno6cartonn7cartton7catron6ccarton7
Misspelling Variants of "carton"

Frequency rank: #4,215 in French

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. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.