carréesvscarrésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,510
“carrées” frequency rank
#6,058
“carrés” frequency rank
30568
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carrées carrés
Definition Féminin pluriel de carré. Masculin pluriel de carré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carrées and carrés apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
carrées
6 ch
carrés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. carrées and carrés 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carrées is recorded at frequency rank #24,510, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁe\. carrés is at rank #6,058, 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 30568, this pair ranks #309,432 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carrées vs carrés

Shared letters: acrsé. Private to "carrées": e. Private to "carrés": -.

"carrées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "carrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

carrées#24,510
carrés#6,058

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carrées" and "carrés" 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, "carrées" or "carrés"?
"carrés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,058 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 carrées vs carrés

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 “carrées” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list