caissevscaseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,410
“caisse” frequency rank
#4,916
“case” frequency rank
7326
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisse case
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. Petite habitation traditionnelle, sous les tropiques.

Where the eye mixes caisse and case

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
caisse
4 ch
case

Why the eye confuses caisse with case

A purely visual mix-up. caisse (\kɛs\) and case (\kaz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7326, 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\. case is at rank #4,916, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaz\.

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 7326, this pair ranks #423,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caisse vs case

Shared letters: aces. Private to "caisse": i. Private to "case": -.

"caisse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caisseacisse · caise · caises · casise · ccaisse · ciasse
  • caseacse · caes · ccase · csae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caisse" and "case" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɛs\ versus \kaz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caisse" or "case"?
"caisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,410 in our French list, against #4,916 for "case". 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 "caisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "case" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisse" and "case" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "case vs CCE". 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 #423,508 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