Which to use
“cai” is a noun and “ceci” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,045
- “cai” frequency rank
- #959
- “ceci” frequency rank
- 47004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cai | ceci |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bien, affaire, objet, chose, fortune. | Pronom démonstratif neutre désignant un objet situé à proximité de la personne qui parle ou une image située à proximité du mot. |
Where the eye mixes cai and ceci
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cai runs 3 letters (CVV) against ceci's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cai vs ceci
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cai is \kaj\ while ceci is \sə.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cai is recorded at frequency rank #46,045, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaj\. ceci is at rank #959, tagged as apron, pronounced \sə.si\.
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 47004, this pair ranks #190,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cai vs ceci
Shared letters: ci. Private to "cai": a. Private to "ceci": e.
"cai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ceci" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ceci ← cceci · ccei · cecci · ceic · ecci
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cai" and "ceci" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cai" or "ceci"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ceci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cai" and "ceci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cai vs CCE". 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
Confusion rank #190,392 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.