cassettesvschaussettesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,474
“cassettes” frequency rank
#8,670
“chaussettes” frequency rank
32144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cassettes chaussettes
Definition Pluriel de cassette. Pluriel de chaussette.

Where the eye mixes cassettes and chaussettes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. cassettes runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against chaussettes's 11 (CCVVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
cassettes
11 ch
chaussettes

Why the eye confuses cassettes with chaussettes

A purely visual mix-up. cassettes (\ka.sɛt\) and chaussettes (\ʃo.sɛt\) 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 32144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cassettes is recorded at frequency rank #23,474, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.sɛt\. chaussettes is at rank #8,670, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃo.sɛt\.

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 32144, this pair ranks #299,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cassettes vs chaussettes

Shared letters: acest. Private to "cassettes": -. Private to "chaussettes": hu.

"cassettes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "chaussettes" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cassettes ← acssettes · casesttes · casettes · cassetes · cassetets · cassettess · cassettse · casstetes
  • chaussettes ← cahussettes · cchaussettes · chasusettes · chausesttes · chausettes · chaussetes · chaussetets · chaussettess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cassettes" for "chaussettes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ka.sɛt\ versus \ʃo.sɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cassettes" or "chaussettes"?
"chaussettes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,670 in our French list, against #23,474 for "cassettes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cassettes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaussettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #299,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cassettes" and "chaussettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cachettes vs cassettes". 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 #299,242 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