Which to use
“castes” and “causses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,394
- “castes” frequency rank
- #48,974
- “causses” frequency rank
- 80368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | castes | causses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de caste. | Pluriel de causse. |
Where the eye mixes castes and causses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. castes 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.
Visual trap between castes and causses
A purely visual mix-up. castes (\kast\) and causses (\kos\) 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 80368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
castes is recorded at frequency rank #31,394, classified as anoun, pronounced \kast\. 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 80368, this pair ranks #21,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of castes vs causses
Shared letters: aces. Private to "castes": t. Private to "causses": u.
"castes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "castes" and "causses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "castes" or "causses"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "castes" 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 #21,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "castes" 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 #21,124 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.