caillevscaillesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,126
“caille” frequency rank
#41,169
“cailles” frequency rank
64295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caille cailles
Definition Nom vernaculaire normalisé donné à trois genres de petits gallinacés migrateurs de l’Ancien Monde comprenant un total de neuf espèces à plumage grivelé, exhibant souvent un patron très voyant de traits faciaux foncés et pâles en alternance, souvent chassées comme gibier, et dont la chair est réputée pour son fumet délicat. Pluriel de caille.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set caille and cailles apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
caille
7 ch
cailles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. caille and cailles are pronounced identically (\kɑj\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “caille” sits inside “cailles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caille is recorded at frequency rank #23,126, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɑj\. cailles is at rank #41,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɑj\.

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 64295, this pair ranks #77,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caille vs cailles

Shared letters: aceil. Private to "caille": -. Private to "cailles": s.

"caille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "cailles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cailleacille · caile · cailel · calile · ccaille · cialle
  • caillesacilles · cailels · cailes · cailless · caillse · caliles · ccailles · cialles

Frequency comparison

caille#23,126
cailles#41,169

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caille" and "cailles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɑj\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "caille" or "cailles"?
"caille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,126 in our French list, against #41,169 for "cailles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering caille vs cailles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “caille” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list