Which to use
“ce” is a determiner and “cuve” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25
- “ce” frequency rank
- #14,006
- “cuve” frequency rank
- 14031
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ce | cuve |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Grand récipient de bois, de métal ou de maçonnerie dont on se sert ordinairement pour fouler la vendange ou pour y laisser fermenter le vin nouveau avec la grappe, pour faire de la bière et pour divers autres usages. |
Where the eye mixes ce and cuve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ce with cuve
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ce is \sə\ while cuve is \kyv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ce is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as adet, pronounced \sə\. cuve is at rank #14,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kyv\.
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 14031, this pair ranks #398,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ce vs cuve
Shared letters: ce. Private to "ce": -. Private to "cuve": uv.
"ce" · 2 letters · shape CV · "cuve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cuve ← ccuve · cuev · cuvve · cvue · ucve
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ce" and "cuve" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ce" vs "cuve" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ce" and "cuve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cuve". 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 #398,491 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.