causervsclasserWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,377
“causer” frequency rank
#10,470
“classer” frequency rank
16847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causer classer
Definition Être cause de ; occasionner, provoquer. Ranger, distribuer par classes. Ranger des éléments suivant des critères ou des caractères communs.

Where the eye mixes causer and classer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
causer
7 ch
classer

Visual trap between causer and classer

A purely visual mix-up. causer (\ko.ze\) and classer (\klɑ.se\) 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 16847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causer is recorded at frequency rank #6,377, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.ze\. classer is at rank #10,470, tagged as averb, pronounced \klɑ.se\.

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 16847, this pair ranks #385,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of causer vs classer

Shared letters: acers. Private to "causer": u. Private to "classer": l.

"causer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "classer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causeracuser · casuer · cauesr · causerr · causre · causser · ccauser · cuaser
  • classercalsser · cclasser · claser · clasesr · classerr · classre · cllasser · clsaser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "causer" for "classer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ko.ze\ versus \klɑ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "causer" or "classer"?
"causer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,377 in our French list, against #10,470 for "classer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "causer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "classer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "causer" and "classer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casseur vs classer". 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 #385,992 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