cecvsclésWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cec is a adjective, clés is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#46,636
“cec” frequency rank
#2,666
“clés” frequency rank
49302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cec clés
Definition Aveugle. Pluriel de clé.

Where the eye mixes cec and clés

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

3 ch
cec
4 ch
clés

Look-alike desk: cec vs clés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cec is \ˈsek\ while clés is \kle\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49302, 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\. clés is at rank #2,666, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.

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 49302, this pair ranks #171,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cec vs clés

Shared letters: c. Private to "cec": e. Private to "clés": lsé.

"cec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cec" and "clés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cec" is an adjective and "clés" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cec" vs "clés" - which ranks higher?
"clés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,666 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.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cec" and "clés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cec". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #171,794 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