cadeauxvscarreauxWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,441
“cadeaux” frequency rank
#13,534
“carreaux” frequency rank
16975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadeaux carreaux
Definition Pluriel de cadeau. Pluriel de carreau.

Where the eye mixes cadeaux and carreaux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cadeaux runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against carreaux's 8 (CVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cadeaux
8 ch
carreaux

Visual trap between cadeaux and carreaux

A purely visual mix-up. cadeaux (\ka.do\) and carreaux (\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 16975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadeaux is recorded at frequency rank #3,441, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.do\. carreaux is at rank #13,534, 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 16975, this pair ranks #385,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cadeaux vs carreaux

Shared letters: aceux. Private to "cadeaux": d. Private to "carreaux": r.

"cadeaux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "carreaux" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadeauxacdeaux · cadaeux · caddeaux · cadeauxx · cadeaxu · cadeuax · caedaux · ccadeaux
  • carreauxacrreaux · careaux · careraux · carraeux · carreauxx · carreaxu · carreuax · ccarreaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadeaux" and "carreaux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.do\ versus \ka.ʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cadeaux" or "carreaux"?
"cadeaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,441 in our French list, against #13,534 for "carreaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadeaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carreaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadeaux" and "carreaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caro vs carreaux". 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 #385,397 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