Which to use
“ceci” is a pronoun and “cet” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #959
- “ceci” frequency rank
- #174
- “cet” frequency rank
- 1133
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ceci | cet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom démonstratif neutre désignant un objet situé à proximité de la personne qui parle ou une image située à proximité du mot. | Variante de ce devant une voyelle. |
Where the eye mixes ceci and cet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ceci runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cet's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ceci with cet
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ceci is \sə.si\ while cet is \sɛt\. 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 1133, 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\. cet is at rank #174, tagged as adet, pronounced \sɛt\.
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 1133, this pair ranks #438,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ceci vs cet
Shared letters: ce. Private to "ceci": i. Private to "cet": t.
"ceci" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cet" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ceci ← cceci · ccei · cecci · ceic · ecci
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ceci" for "cet" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ceci" or "cet" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ceci" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ceci" and "cet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs ceci". 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 #438,579 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.