Which to use
“caries” and “carrée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,190
- “caries” frequency rank
- #13,130
- “carrée” frequency rank
- 51320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caries | carrée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carie. | Cadre, châssis de bois d’un lit. |
Where the eye mixes caries and carrée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caries (CVCVVC) and carrée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: caries vs carrée
A purely visual mix-up. caries (\ka.ʁi\) and carrée (\ka.ʁe\) 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 51320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caries is recorded at frequency rank #38,190, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁi\. carrée is at rank #13,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁe\.
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 51320, this pair ranks #155,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caries vs carrée
Shared letters: acer. Private to "caries": is. Private to "carrée": é.
"caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "carrée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- caries ← acries · caires · careis · cariess · carise · carries · ccaries · craies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caries" for "carrée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "caries" vs "carrée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carrée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caries" and "carrée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caries vs carrez". 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 #155,923 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.