caissevscaissonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,410
“caisse” frequency rank
#24,889
“caisson” frequency rank
27299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisse caisson
Definition Contenant rigide, de forme cubique ou parallélépipédique, constitué par l'assemblage de panneaux pleins ou à claire-voie, dans lequel on peut mettre des objets, pour les stocker ou les transporter. Grande caisse sur un train à deux ou quatre roues qui servait ordinairement pour porter des vivres et des munitions à l’armée.

Where the eye mixes caisse and caisson

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

6 ch
caisse
7 ch
caisson

Look-alike desk: caisse vs caisson

A purely visual mix-up. caisse (\kɛs\) and caisson (\kɛ.sɔ̃\) 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 27299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caisse is recorded at frequency rank #2,410, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛs\. caisson is at rank #24,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɛ.sɔ̃\.

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 27299, this pair ranks #329,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caisse vs caisson

Shared letters: acis. Private to "caisse": e. Private to "caisson": no.

"caisse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "caisson" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caisseacisse · caise · caises · casise · ccaisse · ciasse
  • caissonacisson · caison · caisosn · caissno · caissonn · casison · ccaisson · ciasson

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caisse" and "caisson" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɛs\ versus \kɛ.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caisse" or "caisson"?
"caisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,410 in our French list, against #24,889 for "caisson". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caisson" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #329,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisse" and "caisson" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caisson vs crimson". 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 #329,867 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