caissesvscausésConfusable pair

Quick tell: caisses is a noun, causés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caisses” is a noun and “causés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,322
“caisses” frequency rank
#10,466
“causés” frequency rank
15788
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisses causés
Definition Pluriel de caisse. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe causer.

Where the eye mixes caisses and causés

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

7 ch
caisses
6 ch
causés

Visual trap between caisses and causés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caisses is \kɛs\ while causés is \ko.ze\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caisses is recorded at frequency rank #5,322, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛs\. causés is at rank #10,466, tagged as averb, pronounced \ko.ze\.

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 15788, this pair ranks #390,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caisses vs causés

Shared letters: acs. Private to "caisses": ei. Private to "causés": .

"caisses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "causés" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caissesacisses · caisess · caissess · caissse · casises · ccaisses · ciasses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caisses" for "causés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caisses" is a noun and "causés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "caisses" or "causés" show up more?
"caisses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,322 in our French list, against #10,466 for "causés". 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 "caisses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #390,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisses" and "causés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causés vs causses". 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 #390,852 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