CDI vs ci, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“CDI” is a noun and “ci” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,686
“CDI” frequency rank: #264
“ci” frequency rank: 6950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	CDI	ci
Definition	Contrat à durée indéterminée, type de contrat de travail en France.	ou (Utilisé uniquement dans les compositions, pas utilisé isolément) Ici.

Where the eye mixes CDI and ci

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

CDI

2 ch

Look-alike desk: CDI vs ci

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: CDI is \se.de.i\ while ci is \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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

CDI is recorded at frequency rank #6,686, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.de.i\. ci is at rank #264, tagged as anadv, pronounced \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 6950, this pair ranks #424,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of CDI vs ci

Shared letters: ci. Private to "CDI": d. Private to "ci": -.

"CDI" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "ci" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "CDI" and "ci" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "CDI" is a noun and "ci" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary French text, does "CDI" or "ci" show up more?

"ci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #264 in our French list, against #6,686 for "CDI". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "CDI" and "ci" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "CDI" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #424,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"CDI" and "ci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CDI". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #424,692 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.