cadetsvscodésTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,772
“cadets” frequency rank
#47,232
“codés” frequency rank
67004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadets codés
Definition Masculin pluriel de cadet. Masculin pluriel de codé.

Where the eye mixes cadets and codés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cadets
5 ch
codés

Why the eye confuses cadets with codés

A purely visual mix-up. cadets (\ka.dɛ\) and codés (\kɔ.de\) 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 67004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadets is recorded at frequency rank #19,772, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.dɛ\. codés is at rank #47,232, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.de\.

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 67004, this pair ranks #65,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cadets vs codés

Shared letters: cds. Private to "cadets": aet. Private to "codés": .

"cadets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "codés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadetsacdets · caddets · cadest · cadetss · cadetts · cadtes · caedts · ccadets

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cadets" for "codés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ka.dɛ\ versus \kɔ.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cadets" or "codés"?
"cadets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,772 in our French list, against #47,232 for "codés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "codés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadets" and "codés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "codés vs conde". 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 #65,344 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