carré vs carrées, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,386
“carré” frequency rank: #24,510
“carrées” frequency rank: 27896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	carré	carrées
Definition	En forme de rectangle dont les côtés sont tous égaux.	Féminin pluriel de carré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carré and carrées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

carré

7 ch

carrées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. carré and carrées are pronounced identically (\ka.ʁe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “carré” sits inside “carrées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carré is recorded at frequency rank #3,386, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁe\. carrées is at rank #24,510, tagged as anadj, 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 27896, this pair ranks #326,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carré vs carrées

Shared letters: acré. Private to "carré": -. Private to "carrées": es.

"carré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "carrées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

carré#3,386

carrées#24,510

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carré" and "carrées" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\ka.ʁe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "carré" or "carrées"?

"carré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,386 in our French list, against #24,510 for "carrées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carré vs carrées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “carré” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable