cachetsvscachettesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,790
“cachets” frequency rank
#48,381
“cachettes” frequency rank
72171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cachets cachettes
Definition Pluriel de cachet. Variété du jeu de cache-cache.

Where the eye mixes cachets and cachettes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cachets
9 ch
cachettes

Visual trap between cachets and cachettes

A purely visual mix-up. cachets (\ka.ʃɛ\) and cachettes (\ka.ʃɛt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cachets is recorded at frequency rank #23,790, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʃɛ\. cachettes is at rank #48,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʃɛt\.

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 72171, this pair ranks #44,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cachets vs cachettes

Shared letters: acehst. Private to "cachets": -. Private to "cachettes": -.

"cachets" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "cachettes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cachetsacchets · cacchets · cacehts · cachest · cachetss · cachetts · cachhets · cachtes
  • cachettesacchettes · cacchettes · cacehttes · cachetes · cachetets · cachettess · cachettse · cachhettes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cachets" for "cachettes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʃɛ\ versus \ka.ʃɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cachets" or "cachettes" show up more?
"cachets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,790 in our French list, against #48,381 for "cachettes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cachets" and "cachettes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cachets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cachettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cachets" and "cachettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cachettes vs clochettes". 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 #44,951 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