caussesvschausseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
#36,303
“chausse” frequency rank
85277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causses chausse
Definition Pluriel de causse. Sorte de bas constitué d’un tube de tissu ou de tricot qui monte jusqu’en haut des cuisses (répandu au Moyen Âge). → voir chausses

Where the eye mixes causses and chausse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. causses (CVVCCVC) and chausse (CCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
causses
7 ch
chausse

Look-alike desk: causses vs chausse

A purely visual mix-up. causses (\kos\) and chausse (\ʃos\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causses is recorded at frequency rank #48,974, classified as anoun, pronounced \kos\. chausse is at rank #36,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃos\.

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 85277, this pair ranks #11,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of causses vs chausse

Shared letters: acesu. Private to "causses": -. Private to "chausse": h.

"causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "chausse" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causses ← acusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses
  • chausse ← cahusse · cchausse · chasuse · chause · chauses · chhausse · chuasse · hcausse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "causses" and "chausse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kos\ versus \ʃos\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "causses" or "chausse" show up more?
"chausse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,303 in our French list, against #48,974 for "causses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "causses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chausse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "causses" and "chausse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #11,592 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