capotervscaptéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,690
“capoter” frequency rank
#39,691
“captée” frequency rank
78381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capoter captée
Definition Être renversé sens dessus dessous, en parlant d’une embarcation, d’une automobile, d’un avion. Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe capter.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set capoter and captée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
capoter
6 ch
captée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. capoter (\ka.pɔ.te\) and captée (\kap.te\) 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 78381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capoter is recorded at frequency rank #38,690, classified as averb, pronounced \ka.pɔ.te\. captée is at rank #39,691, tagged as averb, pronounced \kap.te\.

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 78381, this pair ranks #25,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of capoter vs captée

Shared letters: acept. Private to "capoter": or. Private to "captée": é.

"capoter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "captée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capoteracpoter · caopter · capoetr · capoterr · capotre · capotter · cappoter · captoer

Frequency comparison

capoter#38,690
captée#39,691

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capoter" and "captée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.pɔ.te\ versus \kap.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "capoter" or "captée"?
"capoter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,690 in our French list, against #39,691 for "captée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering capoter vs captée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “capoter” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list