cagoulevscapsuleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,792
“cagoule” frequency rank
#11,008
“capsule” frequency rank
34800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cagoule capsule
Definition Sorte de vêtement de moine, ample et sans manches. Cuculle. Fruit sec déhiscent, contenant de nombreuses graines, qui s'ouvre par plusieurs fentes, parfois par un couvercle ou par des pores.

Where the eye mixes cagoule and capsule

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cagoule
7 ch
capsule

Visual trap between cagoule and capsule

A purely visual mix-up. cagoule (\ka.ɡul\) and capsule (\kap.syl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cagoule is recorded at frequency rank #23,792, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ɡul\. capsule is at rank #11,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kap.syl\.

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 34800, this pair ranks #281,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cagoule vs capsule

Shared letters: acelu. Private to "cagoule": go. Private to "capsule": ps.

"cagoule" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "capsule" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cagouleacgoule · caggoule · cagolue · cagouel · cagoulle · caguole · caogule · ccagoule
  • capsuleacpsule · cappsule · capslue · capssule · capsuel · capsulle · capusle · caspule

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cagoule" and "capsule" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ɡul\ versus \kap.syl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cagoule" or "capsule"?
"capsule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,008 in our French list, against #23,792 for "cagoule". 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 "cagoule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capsule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cagoule" and "capsule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagoule vs cagoulés". 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 #281,288 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