calervscalmaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,506
“caler” frequency rank
#47,202
“calma” frequency rank
69708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caler calma
Definition Baisser, en parlant des basses vergues, des mâts de hune ou de perroquet. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de calmer.

Where the eye mixes caler and calma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caler (CVCVC) and calma (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
caler
5 ch
calma

Visual trap between caler and calma

A purely visual mix-up. caler (\ka.le\) and calma (\kal.ma\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caler is recorded at frequency rank #22,506, classified as averb, pronounced \ka.le\. calma is at rank #47,202, tagged as averb, pronounced \kal.ma\.

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 69708, this pair ranks #54,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caler vs calma

Shared letters: acl. Private to "caler": er. Private to "calma": m.

"caler" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "calma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caler ← acler · caelr · calerr · caller · calre · ccaler · claer
  • calma ← aclma · calam · callma · calmma · camla · ccalma · clama

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caler" and "calma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.le\ versus \kal.ma\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caler" vs "calma" - which ranks higher?
"caler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,506 in our French list, against #47,202 for "calma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caler" and "calma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calma vs colla". 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 #54,117 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