cadeauxvscaveauConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,441
“cadeaux” frequency rank
#25,243
“caveau” frequency rank
28684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadeaux caveau
Definition Pluriel de cadeau. Petite cave.

Where the eye mixes cadeaux and caveau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadeaux runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against caveau's 6 (CVCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cadeaux
6 ch
caveau

Look-alike desk: cadeaux vs caveau

A purely visual mix-up. cadeaux (\ka.do\) and caveau (\ka.vo\) 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 28684, 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\. caveau is at rank #25,243, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.vo\.

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 28684, this pair ranks #321,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadeaux vs caveau

Shared letters: aceu. Private to "cadeaux": dx. Private to "caveau": v.

"cadeaux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "caveau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadeauxacdeaux · cadaeux · caddeaux · cadeauxx · cadeaxu · cadeuax · caedaux · ccadeaux
  • caveauacveau · caevau · cavaeu · caveua · cavveau · ccaveau · cvaeau

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cadeaux" and "caveau" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.do\ versus \ka.vo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cadeaux" or "caveau" show up more?
"cadeaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,441 in our French list, against #25,243 for "caveau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cadeaux" and "caveau" 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 "caveau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #321,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadeaux" and "caveau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cava vs caveau". 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 #321,323 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