Which to use
“cede” is a verb and “cleve” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,425
- “cede” frequency rank
- #47,535
- “cleve” frequency rank
- 81960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cede | cleve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To give up; yield to another. | A room; chamber. |
Letter map: cede vs cleve
Shared letters muted; letters that set cede and cleve apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. cede runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cleve's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: cede vs cleve
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cede is averb and cleveanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cede is recorded at frequency rank #34,425, classified as averb, pronounced /siːd/. cleve is at rank #47,535, tagged as anoun.
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 81960, this pair ranks #16,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cede vs cleve
Shared letters: ce. Private to "cede": d. Private to "cleve": lv.
"cede" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cleve" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cede" for "cleve" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cede" or "cleve"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cede" and "cleve".
- Full dictionary entry for "cede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cleve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cede" and "cleve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleaved vs cleve". 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 #16,641 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.