capricevscarieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,144
“caprice” frequency rank
#34,453
“carie” frequency rank
52597
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caprice carie
Definition Volonté irréfléchie, soudaine et passagère. Destruction des os et des dents par voie d’ulcération.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
caprice
5 ch
carie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. caprice (\ka.pʁis\) and carie (\ka.ʁi\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52597, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caprice is recorded at frequency rank #18,144, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.pʁis\. carie is at rank #34,453, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁi\.

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 52597, this pair ranks #146,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caprice vs carie

Shared letters: aceir. Private to "caprice": p. Private to "carie": -.

"caprice" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "carie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capriceacprice · capirce · capprice · caprcie · capricce · capriec · caprrice · carpice
  • carieacrie · carei · ccarie

Frequency comparison

caprice#18,144
carie#34,453

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caprice" and "carie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.pʁis\ versus \ka.ʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caprice" or "carie"?
"caprice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,144 in our French list, against #34,453 for "carie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering caprice vs carie

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 “caprice” 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