Which to use
“carré” is an adjective and “cause” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,386
- “carré” frequency rank
- #332
- “cause” frequency rank
- 3718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carré | cause |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En forme de rectangle dont les côtés sont tous égaux. | Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère. |
Where the eye mixes carré and cause
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between carré and cause
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: carré is \ka.ʁe\ while cause is \koz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3718, 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\. cause is at rank #332, tagged as anoun, pronounced \koz\.
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 3718, this pair ranks #433,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of carré vs cause
Shared letters: ac. Private to "carré": ré. Private to "cause": esu.
"carré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cause ← acuse · casue · caues · ccause · cuase
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carré" for "cause" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "carré" or "cause" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "carré" and "cause" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "carré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cause" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carré" and "cause" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carré 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 #433,358 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.