Which to use
“cadeau” and “carreau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,853
- “cadeau” frequency rank
- #15,826
- “carreau” frequency rank
- 17679
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cadeau | carreau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Présent, don. | Objet plat, ou ouverture, au contour approximativement carré. |
Where the eye mixes cadeau and carreau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadeau runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against carreau's 7 (CVCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cadeau with carreau
A purely visual mix-up. cadeau (\ka.do\) and carreau (\ka.ʁo\) 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 17679, 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\. carreau is at rank #15,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁo\.
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 17679, this pair ranks #382,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cadeau vs carreau
Shared letters: aceu. Private to "cadeau": d. Private to "carreau": r.
"cadeau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "carreau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cadeau" for "carreau" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cadeau" or "carreau"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cadeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carreau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cadeau" and "carreau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carreau vs carrez". 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 #382,011 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.