caveauvschameauWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,243
“caveau” frequency rank
#20,081
“chameau” frequency rank
45324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caveau chameau
Definition Petite cave. Mammifère quadrupède ruminant haut de jambes du genre Camelus, ayant une ou deux bosses sur le dos.

Where the eye mixes caveau and chameau

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

6 ch
caveau
7 ch
chameau

Look-alike desk: caveau vs chameau

A purely visual mix-up. caveau (\ka.vo\) and chameau (\ʃa.mo\) 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 45324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caveau is recorded at frequency rank #25,243, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.vo\. chameau is at rank #20,081, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa.mo\.

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 45324, this pair ranks #203,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caveau vs chameau

Shared letters: aceu. Private to "caveau": v. Private to "chameau": hm.

"caveau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "chameau" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caveauacveau · caevau · cavaeu · caveua · cavveau · ccaveau · cvaeau
  • chameaucahmeau · cchameau · chaemau · chamaeu · chameua · chammeau · chhameau · chmaeau

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caveau" and "chameau" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.vo\ versus \ʃa.mo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caveau" or "chameau"?
"chameau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,081 in our French list, against #25,243 for "caveau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caveau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chameau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caveau" and "chameau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cava vs caveau". 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 #203,604 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