Which to use
“cae” is a verb and “cec” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,819
- “cae” frequency rank
- #46,636
- “cec” frequency rank
- 90455
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cae | cec |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier caer. | Aveugle. |
Where the eye mixes cae and cec
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cae (CVV) and cec (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: cae vs cec
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cae is \ˈka.e\ while cec is \ˈsek\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cae is recorded at frequency rank #43,819, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈka.e\. cec is at rank #46,636, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈsek\.
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 90455, this pair ranks #4,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cae vs cec
Shared letters: ce. Private to "cae": a. Private to "cec": -.
"cae" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "cec" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cae" and "cec" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cae" vs "cec" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cae" and "cec" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cec" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cae" and "cec" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cec". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #4,766 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.