CID

abbrev

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“CID” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #45,832) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#45,832
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (britisch) Criminal Investigation Department

Corpus desk

Index DE-cid · CID · German

CID · rank #45,832 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #45,832
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH charismatisch…

Nearest frequency peer: charismatischen (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „CID“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „CID“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

CID vs cm
0% similar
CID vs cl
0% similar
CID vs CT
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for CID
PropertyValue
HeadwordCID
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters3
Frequency rank#45,832
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „CID“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).CIDliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „charismatischen“ (#45,830), „Charaktereigenschaften“ (#45,829), „commune“ (#45,835). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „CID“ bei #45,832. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for CID is neighbouring look-alikes ("cm", "cl", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation. Frequency #45,832 among 1,273 “C” headwords. Gloss: "(britisch) Criminal Investigation Department".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for CID, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cm", "cl", "CT", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is CID, spelled C-I-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    (britisch) Criminal Investigation Department

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how CID appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. An inspector from CID. (Ein Inspektor von CID.)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "CID"?
"CID" is spelled C-I-D.
What does "CID" mean?
As an abbreviation, "CID" means: (britisch) Criminal Investigation Department
What words are commonly confused with "CID"?
"CID" is commonly confused with "cm", "cl", "CT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "CID" come from?
"CID" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "CID", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dim#45,858elm#45,892AfA#45,743gaz#45,953

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list