cartesvscavitésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,766
“cartes” frequency rank
#17,650
“cavités” frequency rank
19416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cartes cavités
Definition Pluriel de carte. Pluriel de cavité.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
cartes
7 ch
cavités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cartes (\kaʁt\) and cavités (\ka.vi.te\) 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 19416, 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\. cavités is at rank #17,650, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.vi.te\.

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 19416, this pair ranks #373,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cartes vs cavités

Shared letters: acst. Private to "cartes": er. Private to "cavités": ivé.

"cartes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cavités" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cartesacrtes · carets · carrtes · cartess · cartse · carttes · catres · ccartes

Frequency comparison

cartes#1,766
cavités#17,650

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cartes" and "cavités" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kaʁt\ versus \ka.vi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cartes" or "cavités"?
"cartes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,766 in our French list, against #17,650 for "cavités". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cartes vs cavités

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 “cartes” 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