cachervscarrerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,763
“cacher” frequency rank
#48,969
“carrer” frequency rank
51732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cacher carrer
Definition Mettre (une personne ou une chose) en un lieu où on ne peut pas la voir, la recouvrir. Donner une figure carrée, rendre carré.

Where the eye mixes cacher and carrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cacher
6 ch
carrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cacher (\ka.ʃe\) and carrer (\ka.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cacher is recorded at frequency rank #2,763, classified as averb, pronounced \ka.ʃe\. carrer is at rank #48,969, tagged as averb, pronounced \ka.ʁe\.

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 51732, this pair ranks #152,866 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cacher vs carrer

Shared letters: acer. Private to "cacher": h. Private to "carrer": -.

"cacher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "carrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacheraccher · caccher · cacehr · cacherr · cachher · cachre · cahcer · ccacher
  • carreracrrer · carer · carerr · carrerr · carrre · ccarrer · crarer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cacher" and "carrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʃe\ versus \ka.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cacher" or "carrer"?
"cacher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,763 in our French list, against #48,969 for "carrer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list