Which to use
“cause” is a noun and “causent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #332
- “cause” frequency rank
- #17,649
- “causent” frequency rank
- 17981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cause | causent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe causer. |
Same sound, different letters: cause vs causent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: cause vs causent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: cause and causent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \koz\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “cause” sits inside “causent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cause is recorded at frequency rank #332, classified as anoun, pronounced \koz\. causent is at rank #17,649, tagged as averb, pronounced \koz\.
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 17981, this pair ranks #380,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cause vs causent
Shared letters: acesu. Private to "cause": -. Private to "causent": nt.
"cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "causent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cause" and "causent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cause" or "causent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "cause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "causent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cause" and "causent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "campent vs causent". 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 #380,554 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.