carènevscaserneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,357
“carène” frequency rank
#11,923
“caserne” frequency rank
56280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carène caserne
Definition Partie d’un navire, ensemble des lignes longitudinales et transversales qui forment le dessin de la coque dans sa partie immergée (la quille et les flancs du navire jusqu’à la ligne de flottaison). Bâtiment destiné au logement des troupes.

Where the eye mixes carène and caserne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carène runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against caserne's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
carène
7 ch
caserne

Visual trap between carène and caserne

A purely visual mix-up. carène (\ka.ʁɛn\) and caserne (\ka.zɛʁn\) 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 56280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carène is recorded at frequency rank #44,357, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁɛn\. caserne is at rank #11,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.zɛʁn\.

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 56280, this pair ranks #122,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carène vs caserne

Shared letters: acenr. Private to "carène": è. Private to "caserne": s.

"carène" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "caserne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caserneacserne · caesrne · casenre · caseren · casernne · caserrne · casrene · casserne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carène" and "caserne" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʁɛn\ versus \ka.zɛʁn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "carène" or "caserne" show up more?
"caserne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,923 in our French list, against #44,357 for "carène". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "carène" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caserne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carène" and "caserne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carénage vs carène". 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 #122,075 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