Which to use
“caunes” and “cures” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,696
- “caunes” frequency rank
- #30,120
- “cures” frequency rank
- 71816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caunes | cures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de caune. | Pluriel de cure. |
Where the eye mixes caunes and cures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caunes runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against cures's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses caunes with cures
A purely visual mix-up. caunes (\kon\) and cures (\kyʁ\) 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 71816, 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\. cures is at rank #30,120, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kyʁ\.
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 71816, this pair ranks #46,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caunes vs cures
Shared letters: cesu. Private to "caunes": an. Private to "cures": r.
"caunes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "cures" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caunes" for "cures" ever safe?
Which is more common, "caunes" or "cures"?
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 "caunes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caunes" and "cures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caunes vs causses". 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 #46,186 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.