cachevscadeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cache” and “cade” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,409
“cache” frequency rank
#40,160
“cade” frequency rank
42569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cache cade
Definition Lieu propre à cacher ou à se cacher. Oxycèdre.

Where the eye mixes cache and cade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cache
4 ch
cade

Why the eye confuses cache with cade

A purely visual mix-up. cache (\kaʃ\) and cade (\kad\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cache is recorded at frequency rank #2,409, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʃ\. cade is at rank #40,160, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kad\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 42569, this pair ranks #224,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cache vs cade

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cache": h. Private to "cade": d.

"cache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacheacche · cacche · caceh · cachhe · cahce · ccache · ccahe
  • cadeacde · cadde · caed · ccade · cdae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cache" for "cade" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kaʃ\ versus \kad\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cache" vs "cade" - which ranks higher?
"cache" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,409 in our French list, against #40,160 for "cade". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #224,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cache" and "cade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cade vs conde". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #224,611 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list