cachésvscariesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cachés is a adjective, caries is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cachés” is an adjective and “caries” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,667
“cachés” frequency rank
#38,190
“caries” frequency rank
46857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cachés caries
Definition Masculin pluriel de caché. Pluriel de carie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cachés and caries apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
cachés
6 ch
caries

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cachés is \ka.ʃe\ while caries is \ka.ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cachés is recorded at frequency rank #8,667, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʃe\. caries is at rank #38,190, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁi\.

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 46857, this pair ranks #191,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cachés vs caries

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cachés": . Private to "caries": eir.

"cachés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cariesacries · caires · careis · cariess · carise · carries · ccaries · craies

Frequency comparison

cachés#8,667
caries#38,190

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cachés" and "caries" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cachés" is an adjective and "caries" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cachés" or "caries"?
"cachés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,667 in our French list, against #38,190 for "caries". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cachés vs caries

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cachés”; for a noun, it's “caries”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cachés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list