calicevscalméeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#19,773
“calice” frequency rank
#38,187
“calmée” frequency rank
57960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calice calmée
Definition Vase sacré dans lequel est consacré le vin, à la messe. Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe calmer.

Where the eye mixes calice and calmée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. calice (CVCVCV) and calmée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
calice
6 ch
calmée

Visual trap between calice and calmée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calice is \ka.lis\ while calmée is \kal.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calice is recorded at frequency rank #19,773, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.lis\. calmée is at rank #38,187, tagged as averb, pronounced \kal.me\.

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 57960, this pair ranks #111,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of calice vs calmée

Shared letters: acel. Private to "calice": i. Private to "calmée": mé.

"calice" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "calmée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calice ← aclice · cailce · calcie · calicce · caliec · callice · ccalice · claice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "calice" and "calmée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calice" is a noun and "calmée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "calice" or "calmée"?
"calice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,773 in our French list, against #38,187 for "calmée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "calice" and "calmée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calmée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calice" and "calmée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calmée vs charmée". 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 #111,894 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