caraïbevsCaraïbesTell them apart

Quick tell: caraïbe is a adjective, Caraïbes is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caraïbe” is an adjective and “Caraïbes” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,726
“caraïbe” frequency rank
#10,836
“Caraïbes” frequency rank
43562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caraïbe Caraïbes
Definition Qui vient des Caraïbes. Région de l’Atlantique Nord constituée de la mer des Caraïbes et des terres et îles adjacentes.

Same sound, different letters: caraïbe vs Caraïbes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. caraïbe runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against Caraïbes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
caraïbe
8 ch
Caraïbes

Homophone desk: caraïbe vs Caraïbes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: caraïbe and Caraïbes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ka.ʁa.ib\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other aname, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “caraïbe” sits inside “Caraïbes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caraïbe is recorded at frequency rank #32,726, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁa.ib\. Caraïbes is at rank #10,836, tagged as aname, pronounced \ka.ʁa.ib\.

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 43562, this pair ranks #217,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caraïbe vs Caraïbes

Shared letters: abcerï. Private to "caraïbe": -. Private to "Caraïbes": s.

"caraïbe" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "Caraïbes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caraïbe" and "Caraïbes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caraïbe" is an adjective and "Caraïbes" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "caraïbe" vs "Caraïbes" - which ranks higher?
"Caraïbes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,836 in our French list, against #32,726 for "caraïbe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"caraïbe" and "Caraïbes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caraïbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Caraïbes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caraïbe" and "Caraïbes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carafe vs caraïbe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #217,109 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