carrésvscausésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: carrés is a adjective, causés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“carrés” is an adjective and “causés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,058
“carrés” frequency rank
#10,466
“causés” frequency rank
16524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carrés causés
Definition Masculin pluriel de carré. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe causer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carrés and causés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
carrés
6 ch
causés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: carrés is \ka.ʁe\ while causés is \ko.ze\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carrés is recorded at frequency rank #6,058, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁe\. causés is at rank #10,466, tagged as averb, pronounced \ko.ze\.

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 16524, this pair ranks #387,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of carrés vs causés

Shared letters: acsé. Private to "carrés": r. Private to "causés": u.

"carrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "causés" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Frequency comparison

carrés#6,058
causés#10,466

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carrés" and "causés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "carrés" is an adjective and "causés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "carrés" or "causés"?
"carrés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,058 in our French list, against #10,466 for "causés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carrés vs causés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “carrés”; for a verb, it's “causés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “carrés” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list