Which to use
“cadeau” and “cadeaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,853
- “cadeau” frequency rank
- #3,441
- “cadeaux” frequency rank
- 5294
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cadeau | cadeaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Présent, don. | Pluriel de cadeau. |
Same sound, different letters: cadeau vs cadeaux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. cadeau runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against cadeaux's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - cadeau / cadeaux
This is the hard kind. cadeau and cadeaux are pronounced identically (\ka.do\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cadeau” sits inside “cadeaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cadeau is recorded at frequency rank #1,853, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.do\. cadeaux is at rank #3,441, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.do\.
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 5294, this pair ranks #429,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cadeau vs cadeaux
Shared letters: acdeu. Private to "cadeau": -. Private to "cadeaux": x.
"cadeau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "cadeaux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cadeau" and "cadeaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cadeau" vs "cadeaux" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "cadeau" / "cadeaux". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "cadeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cadeaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cadeau" and "cadeaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cade vs cadeau". 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 #429,419 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.