ciseaux
\si.zo\
The verdict
“ciseaux” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #14,429 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,429
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Instrument à deux lames pivotant sur un axe qui se chevauchent en partie pour couper ou rogner.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ciseaux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \si.zo\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #14,429 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ciseaux” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for ciseaux is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \si.zo\. Corpus data places it at rank #14,429 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for ciseaux, with forms such as "cciseaux", "ciesaux", and "cisaeux". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "coteaux", "copeaux", "cristaux", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is ciseaux, spelled C-I-S-E-A-U-X.
Definition
- 1Instrument à deux lames pivotant sur un axe qui se chevauchent en partie pour couper ou rogner.
- 2Tir de volée en extension, tête en bas et dos au but, où l’impulsion et le tir sont réalisés avec la même jambe.
- 3Meuble représentant l’outil de couture du même nom dans les armoiries. Ils sont souvent représentés ouverts, les lames passées en sautoir. À rapprocher de forces et forces de tondeur.
- 4Pratique sexuelle qui consiste à introduire un doigt dans l'anus et un autre dans le vagin et à leur faire faire des mouvements similaires à ceux d'une paire de ciseaux.
- 5Position sexuelle au cours de laquelle deux partenaires, généralement deux femmes, se font face et frottent leurs organes génitaux en entrecroisant leurs jambes.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cciseaux,ciesaux,cisaeux,ciseauxx,ciseaxu,ciseuax,cisseaux,csieaux,icseaux
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ciseaux - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ciseaux"?
What does "ciseaux" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ciseaux"?
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Using “ciseaux”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-I-S-E-A-U-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \si.zo\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “coteaux” - see the side-by-side comparison. ciseaux vs coteaux
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.