cevsCtConfusable pair

Quick tell: ce is a determiner, Ct is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ce” is a determiner and “Ct” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25
“ce” frequency rank
#9,461
“Ct” frequency rank
9486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ce Ct
Definition Déterminant utilisé pour mettre en évidence une chose ou une personne dont on a la représentation devant soi. Lorsque l’objet est en nombre multiple ou lorsqu’on veut appuyer encore plus sur ce qu’on veut montrer, on rajoute -ci ou -là (selon la distance) après le nom. « Combault » dans Pontault-Combault.

Where the eye mixes ce and Ct

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ce
2 ch
Ct

Look-alike desk: ce vs Ct

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ce is \sə\ while Ct is \kɔ̃.bo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “ce” becomes t in “Ct”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ce is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as adet, pronounced \sə\. Ct is at rank #9,461, tagged as aname, pronounced \kɔ̃.bo\.

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 9486, this pair ranks #416,472 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ce vs Ct

Shared letters: c. Private to "ce": e. Private to "Ct": t.

"ce" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "Ct" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ce" and "Ct" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ce" is a determiner and "Ct" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ce" vs "Ct" - which ranks higher?
"ce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our French list, against #9,461 for "Ct". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ct" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,472 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ce" and "Ct" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs Ct". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #416,472 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list