citevsCTWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cite is a verb, CT is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cite” is a verb and “CT” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,666
“cite” frequency rank
#5,951
“CT” frequency rank
17617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cite CT
Definition To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. Initialism of computed tomography.

Letter map: cite vs CT

Shared letters muted; letters that set cite and CT apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
cite
2 ch
CT

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cite is averb and CTanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cite is recorded at frequency rank #11,666, classified as averb, pronounced /saɪt/. CT is at rank #5,951, 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 17617, this pair ranks #450,263 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cite vs CT

Shared letters: ct. Private to "cite": ei. Private to "CT": -.

"cite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "CT" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citeccite · ciet · citte · ctie · icte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cite" and "CT" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cite" is a verb and "CT" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cite" or "CT"?
"CT" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,951 in our English list, against #11,666 for "cite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "cite" and "CT". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CT" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #450,263 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cite" and "CT" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cite". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list