ce

\sə\

/\sə\/ det

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ce” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #25) as a determiner. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#25
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Déterminant utilisé pour mettre en évidence une chose ou une personne dont on a la représentation devant soi. Lorsque l’objet est en nombre multiple ou lorsqu’on veut appuyer encore plus sur ce qu’...

Corpus desk

Index FR-ce · ce · French

ce · rank #25 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #25
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH au

Nearest frequency peer: au (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “ce”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ce” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ce vs ci
50% similar
ce vs co
50% similar
ce vs Cm
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ce
PropertyValue
Headwordce
LanguageFrench
Part of speechDeterminer
IPA\sə\
Letters2
Frequency rank#25
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ce” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ce lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ce is neighbouring look-alikes ("ci", "co", …), not just typos; it is adeterminer pronounced \sə\. Frequency #25 among 8,609 “C” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

ce doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ci", "co", "Cm", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is ce, spelled C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Déterminant utilisé pour mettre en évidence une chose ou une personne dont on a la représentation devant soi. Lorsque l’objet est en nombre multiple ou lorsqu’on veut appuyer encore plus sur ce qu’on veut montrer, on rajoute -ci ou -là (selon la distance) après le nom.
  2. 2
    Lorsqu’on veut mettre en évidence un objet ou une personne en rapport avec un(e) autre, on utilise les adverbes -ci et -là après chaque nom (bien que l’usage tende à utiliser les pronoms celui-là, celle-là, ceux-là ou celles-là cela pour éviter la répétition).
  3. 3
    Dans les expressions où ce est utilisé avec un nom indiquant une période, le -ci représente le présent, alors que le -là représente le passé (la distance devient temporelle).
  4. 4
    On l’utilise également pour reprendre l’objet ou la personne décrit dans la phrase précédente.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ce appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ce chien est adorable. (sous-entendu : il n’y a qu’un seul chien)
  2. Ce chien-ci est adorable. (sous-entendu : le chien dont on vient de parler, ou le plus proche)

This word in other languages

this(English)este(Español)dies(Deutsch)este(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ce"?
"ce" is spelled C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sə\.
What does "ce" mean?
As a determiner, "ce" means: Déterminant utilisé pour mettre en évidence une chose ou une personne dont on a la représentation devant soi. Lorsque l’objet est en nombre multiple ou lorsqu’on veut appuyer encore plus sur ce qu’...
What words are commonly confused with "ce"?
"ce" is commonly confused with "ci", "co", "Cm". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ce"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ce" is \sə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ce" come from?
"ce" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list