carréesvschargéesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,510
“carrées” frequency rank
#12,125
“chargées” frequency rank
36635
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carrées chargées
Definition Féminin pluriel de carré. Féminin pluriel de chargé.

Where the eye mixes carrées and chargées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. carrées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against chargées's 8 (CCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
carrées
8 ch
chargées

Why the eye confuses carrées with chargées

A purely visual mix-up. carrées (\ka.ʁe\) and chargées (\ʃaʁ.ʒe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36635, 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\. chargées is at rank #12,125, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃaʁ.ʒe\.

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 36635, this pair ranks #268,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carrées vs chargées

Shared letters: acersé. Private to "carrées": -. Private to "chargées": gh.

"carrées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "chargées" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "carrées" and "chargées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʁe\ versus \ʃaʁ.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "carrées" vs "chargées" - which ranks higher?
"chargées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,125 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "carrées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chargées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carrées" and "chargées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrées vs carrez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #268,212 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list