cec vs ceci, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cec” is an adjective and “ceci” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,636
“cec” frequency rank: #959
“ceci” frequency rank: 47595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cec	ceci
Definition	Aveugle.	Pronom démonstratif neutre désignant un objet situé à proximité de la personne qui parle ou une image située à proximité du mot.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cec and ceci apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

cec

4 ch

ceci

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cec is \ˈsek\ while ceci is \sə.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cec” sits inside “ceci”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cec is recorded at frequency rank #46,636, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈsek\. 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 47595, this pair ranks #185,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cec vs ceci

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cec": -. Private to "ceci": i.

"cec" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ceci" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

ceci ← cceci · ccei · cecci · ceic · ecci

Frequency comparison

cec#46,636

ceci#959

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cec" and "ceci" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cec" is an adjective and "ceci" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cec" or "ceci"?

"ceci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #959 in our French list, against #46,636 for "cec". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cec vs ceci

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cec”; for a pronoun, it's “ceci”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cec” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable