cartoon

\kaʁ.tun\

/\kaʁ.tun\/ noun

The verdict

“cartoon” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #34,015. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,015
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dessin animé américain de style comique généralement au format de court métrage, dont l’âge d’or se situe dans les années 1930-1950.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cartoon · cartoon · French

cartoon · rank #34,015 · 9 variants · 11 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,015
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Carolyn

Nearest frequency peer: Carolyn (-2 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 « cartoon »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « cartoon » 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).

cartoon vs caton
71% similar
cartoon vs caution
71% similar
cartoon vs caron
71% similar

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

Key facts for cartoon
PropertyValue
Headwordcartoon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kaʁ.tun\
Letters7
Frequency rank#34,015
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « cartoon »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).cartoonse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Carolyn » (#34,013), « cessons » (#34,017), « Carolina » (#34,012). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cartoon » est au #34,015. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around cartoon (IPA \kaʁ.tun\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #34,015 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cartoon, with forms such as "acrtoon", "caroton", and "carrtoon". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "caton", "caution", "caron", 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, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is cartoon, spelled C-A-R-T-O-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dessin animé américain de style comique généralement au format de court métrage, dont l’âge d’or se situe dans les années 1930-1950.
  2. 2
    Bande dessinée humoristique américaine (livre).
  3. 3
    Par extension, bande dessinée humoristique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les années 30 et sa récession économique trouvent dans le cartoon, comme dans les exaltantes comédies musicales ou dans l’humanisme naïf de Franck Capra, l’opportunité idéale de se soustraire à une réalité oppressante.
  2. Dans le halo d’une lampe de bureau, le réceptionniste lisait un cartoon jauni.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acrtoon
  • caroton
  • carrtoon
  • cartono
  • cartoonn
  • carttoon
  • catroon
  • ccartoon
  • cratoon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

acrtoon2caroton2carrtoon1cartono2cartoonn1carttoon1catroon2ccartoon1
Edit distance from "cartoon"

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 "cartoon"?
"cartoon" is spelled C-A-R-T-O-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kaʁ.tun\.
What does "cartoon" mean?
As a noun, "cartoon" means: Dessin animé américain de style comique généralement au format de court métrage, dont l’âge d’or se situe dans les années 1930-1950.
What words are commonly confused with "cartoon"?
"cartoon" is commonly confused with "caton", "caution", "caron". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cartoon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cartoon" is \kaʁ.tun\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cartoon" come from?
"cartoon" 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 "cartoon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list