Which to use
“caries” and “cities” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,190
- “caries” frequency rank
- #34,467
- “cities” frequency rank
- 72657
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caries | cities |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carie. | Pluriel de city. |
Where the eye mixes caries and cities
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between caries and cities
A purely visual mix-up. caries (\ka.ʁi\) and cities (\ˈsɪt.iz\) 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 72657, 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\. cities is at rank #34,467, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪt.iz\.
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 72657, this pair ranks #43,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caries vs cities
Shared letters: ceis. Private to "caries": ar. Private to "cities": t.
"caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "cities" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caries" for "cities" ever safe?
Frequency check: "caries" vs "cities" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "caries" and "cities" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cities" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caries" and "cities" 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 #43,238 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.