caussesvscrossesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
#47,268
“crosses” frequency rank
96242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causses crosses
Definition Pluriel de causse. Pluriel de crosse.

Where the eye mixes causses and crosses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. causses (CVVCCVC) and crosses (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
causses
7 ch
crosses

Look-alike desk: causses vs crosses

A purely visual mix-up. causses (\kos\) and crosses (\kʁɔs\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96242, 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\. crosses is at rank #47,268, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔs\.

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 96242, this pair ranks #746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of causses vs crosses

Shared letters: ces. Private to "causses": au. Private to "crosses": or.

"causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "crosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causses ← acusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses
  • crosses ← ccrosses · corsses · crosess · crossess · crossse · crrosses · crsoses · rcosses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "causses" for "crosses" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kos\ versus \kʁɔs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "causses" vs "crosses" - which ranks higher?
"crosses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #47,268 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "causses" and "crosses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "causses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crosses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "causses" and "crosses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs chausser". 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 #746 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