caléevscarréConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#48,384
“calée” frequency rank
#3,386
“carré” frequency rank
51770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calée carré
Definition Féminin singulier de calé. En forme de rectangle dont les côtés sont tous égaux.

Where the eye mixes calée and carré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
calée
5 ch
carré

Look-alike desk: calée vs carré

A purely visual mix-up. calée (\ka.le\) and carré (\ka.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calée is recorded at frequency rank #48,384, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.le\. carré is at rank #3,386, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁe\.

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 51770, this pair ranks #152,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calée vs carré

Shared letters: acé. Private to "calée": el. Private to "carré": r.

"calée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "carré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "calée" and "carré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ka.le\ versus \ka.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "calée" or "carré"?
"carré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,386 in our French list, against #48,384 for "calée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calée" and "carré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs calée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #152,602 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