caunesvscaussesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,696
“caunes” frequency rank
#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
90670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caunes causses
Definition Pluriel de caune. Pluriel de causse.

Where the eye mixes caunes and causses

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

6 ch
caunes
7 ch
causses

Visual trap between caunes and causses

A purely visual mix-up. caunes (\kon\) 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 90670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caunes is recorded at frequency rank #41,696, classified as anoun, pronounced \kon\. 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 90670, this pair ranks #4,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caunes vs causses

Shared letters: acesu. Private to "caunes": n. Private to "causses": -.

"caunes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caunes ← acunes · canues · cauens · cauness · caunnes · caunse · ccaunes · cuanes
  • causses ← acusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caunes" and "causses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kon\ versus \kos\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caunes" or "causses"?
"caunes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,696 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "caunes" and "causses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caunes" 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 #4,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caunes" 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 #4,571 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