Which to use
“cite” is a verb and “cute” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,666
- “cite” frequency rank
- #2,249
- “cute” frequency rank
- 13915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cite | cute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. | Possessing physical features, behaviors, personality traits or other properties that are mainly attributed to infants and small or cuddly animals; e.g. fair, dainty, round, and soft physical features, disproportionately large eyes and head, playfulness, fragility, helplessness, curiosity or shyness, innocence, affectionate behavior. |
Where the eye mixes cite and cute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cite is /saɪt/ while cute is /kjuːt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “cite” becomes u in “cute”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13915, 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/. cute is at rank #2,249, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kjuːt/.
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 13915, this pair ranks #473,129 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cite vs cute
Shared letters: cet. Private to "cite": i. Private to "cute": u.
"cite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cite" and "cute" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cite" or "cute"?
What to do next
You've compared "cite" and "cute". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "cite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #473,129 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cite" and "cute" 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.