causavscuraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,078
“causa” frequency rank
#46,093
“cura” frequency rank
66171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causa cura
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de causer. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de curer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set causa and cura apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
causa
4 ch
cura

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. causa (\ko.za\) and cura (\ky.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 66171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causa is recorded at frequency rank #20,078, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.za\. cura is at rank #46,093, tagged as averb, pronounced \ky.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 66171, this pair ranks #68,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of causa vs cura

Shared letters: acu. Private to "causa": s. Private to "cura": r.

"causa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "cura" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causaacusa · casua · cauas · caussa · ccausa · cuasa
  • curaccura · cuar · curra · ucra

Frequency comparison

causa#20,078
cura#46,093

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "causa" and "cura" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ko.za\ versus \ky.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "causa" or "cura"?
"causa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,078 in our French list, against #46,093 for "cura". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering causa vs cura

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “causa” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list