Which to use
“caille” and “cédille” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,126
- “caille” frequency rank
- #49,589
- “cédille” frequency rank
- 72715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caille | cédille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vernaculaire normalisé donné à trois genres de petits gallinacés migrateurs de l’Ancien Monde comprenant un total de neuf espèces à plumage grivelé, exhibant souvent un patron très voyant de traits faciaux foncés et pâles en alternance, souvent chassées comme gibier, et dont la chair est réputée pour son fumet délicat. | Signe diacritique de l’alphabet latin en forme de crochet vers la gauche (‹ ◌̧ ›) comme la moitié inférieure de z wisigothique (duquel elle provient), de petit c culbuté ou parfois de petite virgule souscrite. |
Where the eye mixes caille and cédille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. caille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against cédille's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between caille and cédille
A purely visual mix-up. caille (\kɑj\) and cédille (\se.dij\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caille is recorded at frequency rank #23,126, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɑj\. cédille is at rank #49,589, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.dij\.
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 72715, this pair ranks #43,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caille vs cédille
Shared letters: ceil. Private to "caille": a. Private to "cédille": dé.
"caille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "cédille" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- caille ← acille · caile · cailel · calile · ccaille · cialle
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caille" for "cédille" ever safe?
Which is more common, "caille" or "cédille"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "caille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cédille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caille" and "cédille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cédille vs cueille". 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 #43,024 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.