Which to use
“cape” and “cas” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,465
- “cape” frequency rank
- #157
- “cas” frequency rank
- 10622
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cape | cas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vêtement de dessus ample et sans manches. | Accident, aventure, conjoncture, occasion ; fait arrivé, ou qui peut arriver. |
Where the eye mixes cape and cas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cape with cas
A purely visual mix-up. cape (\kap\) and cas (\kɑ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cape is recorded at frequency rank #10,465, classified as anoun, pronounced \kap\. cas is at rank #157, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɑ\.
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 10622, this pair ranks #412,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cape vs cas
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cape": ep. Private to "cas": s.
"cape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cape ← acpe · caep · cappe · ccape · cpae
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cape" for "cas" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cape" or "cas" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cape" and "cas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cape" and "cas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cape vs CCE". 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 #412,288 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.