Which to use
“carême” and “carmes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,362
- “carême” frequency rank
- #30,089
- “carmes” frequency rank
- 47451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carême | carmes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Temps d’abstinence et de jeûne qui comprend quarante-six jours entre le mardi gras et le jour de Pâques, et pendant lequel un certain nombre de jeûnes, d’abstinences et d’autres privations sont ordonnées par l’Église. | Pluriel de carme. |
Where the eye mixes carême and carmes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carême (CVCVCV) and carmes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses carême with carmes
A purely visual mix-up. carême (\ka.ʁɛm\) and carmes (\kaʁm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carême is recorded at frequency rank #17,362, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁɛm\. carmes is at rank #30,089, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaʁm\.
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 47451, this pair ranks #186,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carême vs carmes
Shared letters: acemr. Private to "carême": ê. Private to "carmes": s.
"carême" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "carmes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- carmes ← acrmes · camres · carems · carmess · carmmes · carmse · carrmes · ccarmes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carême" for "carmes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "carême" vs "carmes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "carême" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carême" and "carmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carmes 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 #186,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.