causéevsclauseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: causée is a verb, clause is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“causée” is a verb and “clause” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,330
“causée” frequency rank
#7,164
“clause” frequency rank
19494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causée clause
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe causer. Disposition particulière faisant partie d’un traité, d’un contrat, d’un arrêté, d’une loi ou de tout autre acte public ou particulier, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set causée and clause apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
causée
6 ch
clause

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: causée is \ko.ze\ while clause is \kloz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causée is recorded at frequency rank #12,330, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.ze\. clause is at rank #7,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kloz\.

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 19494, this pair ranks #373,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of causée vs clause

Shared letters: acesu. Private to "causée": é. Private to "clause": l.

"causée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "clause" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clausecaluse · cclause · clasue · claues · clausse · cllause · cluase · lcause

Frequency comparison

causée#12,330
clause#7,164

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "causée" and "clause" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "causée" is a verb and "clause" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "causée" or "clause"?
"clause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,164 in our French list, against #12,330 for "causée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering causée vs clause

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “causée”; for a noun, it's “clause”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “causée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list