cassezvscaussesTell them apart

Quick tell: cassez is a verb, causses is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cassez” is a verb and “causses” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,562
“cassez” frequency rank
#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
70536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cassez causses
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe casser. Pluriel de causse.

Where the eye mixes cassez and causses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cassez runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against causses's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cassez
7 ch
causses

Look-alike desk: cassez vs causses

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cassez is \ka.se\ while causses is \kos\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cassez is recorded at frequency rank #21,562, classified as averb, pronounced \ka.se\. causses is at rank #48,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kos\.

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 70536, this pair ranks #50,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cassez vs causses

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cassez": z. Private to "causses": u.

"cassez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cassez ← acssez · casesz · casez · cassezz · cassze · ccassez · csasez
  • causses ← acusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cassez" and "causses" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cassez" is a verb and "causses" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "cassez" or "causses" show up more?
"cassez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,562 in our French list, against #48,974 for "causses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cassez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cassez" and "causses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #50,952 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