cavalevscavitéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,079
“cavale” frequency rank
#15,828
“cavité” frequency rank
35907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cavale cavité
Definition Jument. Creux, vide dans un corps solide.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cavale and cavité apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
cavale
6 ch
cavité

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cavale (\ka.val\) and cavité (\ka.vi.te\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cavale is recorded at frequency rank #20,079, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.val\. cavité is at rank #15,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.vi.te\.

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 35907, this pair ranks #273,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cavale vs cavité

Shared letters: acv. Private to "cavale": el. Private to "cavité": ité.

"cavale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cavité" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cavaleacvale · caavle · cavael · cavalle · cavlae · cavvale · ccavale · cvaale

Frequency comparison

cavale#20,079
cavité#15,828

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cavale" and "cavité" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.val\ versus \ka.vi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cavale" or "cavité"?
"cavité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,828 in our French list, against #20,079 for "cavale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cavale vs cavité

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cavale” 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