Which to use
“cite” and “cut” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,666
- “cite” frequency rank
- #569
- “cut” frequency rank
- 12235
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cite | cut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. | To incise, to cut into the surface of something. |
Where the eye mixes cite and cut
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. cite (/saɪt/) and cut (/kʌt/) 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 12235, 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/. cut is at rank #569, tagged as averb, pronounced /kʌt/.
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 12235, this pair ranks #482,706 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cite vs cut
Shared letters: ct. Private to "cite": ei. Private to "cut": u.
"cite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cut" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cite ← ccite · ciet · citte · ctie · icte