Which to use
“cartes” and “cats” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,766
- “cartes” frequency rank
- #28,094
- “cats” frequency rank
- 29860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cartes | cats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carte. | Pluriel de cat. |
Where the eye mixes cartes and cats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cartes vs cats
A purely visual mix-up. cartes (\kaʁt\) and cats (\kat\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cartes is recorded at frequency rank #1,766, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʁt\. cats is at rank #28,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kat\.
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 29860, this pair ranks #314,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cartes vs cats
Shared letters: acst. Private to "cartes": er. Private to "cats": -.
"cartes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cartes" and "cats" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cartes" or "cats" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cartes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cartes" and "cats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs cats". 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 #314,000 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.