caissesvscaussesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,322
“caisses” frequency rank
#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
54296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisses causses
Definition Pluriel de caisse. Pluriel de causse.

Where the eye mixes caisses and causses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. caisses and causses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
caisses
7 ch
causses

Look-alike desk: caisses vs causses

A purely visual mix-up. caisses (\kɛs\) and causses (\kos\) 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 a single letter - i in “caisses” becomes u in “causses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54296, 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\. causses is at rank #48,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kos\.

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 54296, this pair ranks #134,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caisses vs causses

Shared letters: aces. Private to "caisses": i. Private to "causses": u.

"caisses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caisses ← acisses · caisess · caissess · caissse · casises · ccaisses · ciasses
  • causses ← acusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caisses" and "causses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɛs\ versus \kos\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caisses" or "causses"?
"caisses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,322 in our French list, against #48,974 for "causses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caisses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisses" and "causses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #134,983 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