Which to use
“cartons” and “caton” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,967
- “cartons” frequency rank
- #43,329
- “caton” frequency rank
- 52296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cartons | caton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carton. | Tringle de fer qu’on forge à bras pour la passer à la filière. |
Where the eye mixes cartons and caton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cartons runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against caton's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cartons vs caton
A purely visual mix-up. cartons (\kaʁ.tɔ̃\) and caton (\ka.tɔ̃\) 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 52296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cartons is recorded at frequency rank #8,967, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʁ.tɔ̃\. caton is at rank #43,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.tɔ̃\.
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 52296, this pair ranks #148,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cartons vs caton
Shared letters: acnot. Private to "cartons": rs. Private to "caton": -.
"cartons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "caton" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cartons" and "caton" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cartons" vs "caton" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cartons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cartons" and "caton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caton vs coon". 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 #148,694 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.