Which to use
“cath” and “cts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,167
- “cath” frequency rank
- #39,736
- “cts” frequency rank
- 79903
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cath | cts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chat (animal). | Carats |
Where the eye mixes cath and cts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cath with cts
A purely visual mix-up. cath (\kaːθ\) and cts (\ka.ʁa\) 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 79903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cath is recorded at frequency rank #40,167, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaːθ\. cts is at rank #39,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁa\.
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 79903, this pair ranks #22,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cath vs cts
Shared letters: ct. Private to "cath": ah. Private to "cts": s.
"cath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cts" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cath ← acth · cathh · catth · ccath · ctah
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cath" for "cts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cath" vs "cts" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cath" and "cts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cath" and "cts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cts". 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 #22,193 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.