Which to use
“caries” and “caunes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,190
- “caries” frequency rank
- #41,696
- “caunes” frequency rank
- 79886
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caries | caunes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carie. | Pluriel de caune. |
Where the eye mixes caries and caunes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caries (CVCVVC) and caunes (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between caries and caunes
A purely visual mix-up. caries (\ka.ʁi\) and caunes (\kon\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79886, 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\. caunes is at rank #41,696, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kon\.
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 79886, this pair ranks #22,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caries vs caunes
Shared letters: aces. Private to "caries": ir. Private to "caunes": nu.
"caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "caunes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caries" and "caunes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "caries" vs "caunes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "caries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caunes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caries" and "caunes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caunes vs causses". 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 #22,235 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.