ceci vs ces, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#959
“ceci” frequency rank: #74
“ces” frequency rank: 1033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ceci	ces
Definition	Pronom démonstratif neutre désignant un objet situé à proximité de la personne qui parle ou une image située à proximité du mot.	Pluriel de ce et cette.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ceci and ces apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

ceci

3 ch

ces

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ceci is \sə.si\ while ces is \se\. 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 (pronoun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ceci is recorded at frequency rank #959, classified as apron, pronounced \sə.si\. ces is at rank #74, tagged as adet, pronounced \se\.

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 1033, this pair ranks #438,736 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ceci vs ces

Shared letters: ce. Private to "ceci": i. Private to "ces": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

ceci ← cceci · ccei · cecci · ceic · ecci

Frequency comparison

ceci#959

ces#74

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"ces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #74 in our French list, against #959 for "ceci". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ceci vs ces

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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