# circus vs cirque

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### circus
*noun · IPA /ˈsɜːkəs/ · frequency rank #7,319*
A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.

### cirque
*noun · IPA /sɜːk/ · frequency rank #30,366*
A Roman circus.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/circus-vs-cirque