cagnottevscalotteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,676
“cagnotte” frequency rank
#25,918
“calotte” frequency rank
44594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cagnotte calotte
Definition Caisse commune, poule, où des joueurs conviennent de déposer les enjeux. Espèce de petit bonnet qui ne couvre ordinairement que le haut de la tête et qui est surtout en usage parmi les gens d’Église.

Where the eye mixes cagnotte and calotte

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

8 ch
cagnotte
7 ch
calotte

Why the eye confuses cagnotte with calotte

A purely visual mix-up. cagnotte (\ka.ɲɔt\) and calotte (\ka.lɔt\) 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 44594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cagnotte is recorded at frequency rank #18,676, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ɲɔt\. calotte is at rank #25,918, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.lɔt\.

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 44594, this pair ranks #209,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cagnotte vs calotte

Shared letters: aceot. Private to "cagnotte": gn. Private to "calotte": l.

"cagnotte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "calotte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cagnotte ← acgnotte · caggnotte · cagnnotte · cagnote · cagnotet · cagntote · cagontte · cangotte
  • calotte ← aclotte · callotte · calote · calotet · caltote · caoltte · ccalotte · claotte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cagnotte" for "calotte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ɲɔt\ versus \ka.lɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cagnotte" or "calotte"?
"cagnotte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,676 in our French list, against #25,918 for "calotte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cagnotte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calotte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cagnotte" and "calotte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calotte vs Carlotta". 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 #209,274 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