cédavscédaitConfusable pair

Which to use

“céda” and “cédait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,740
“céda” frequency rank
#40,706
“cédait” frequency rank
79446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature céda cédait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe céder. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe céder.

Where the eye mixes céda and cédait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. céda runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cédait's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
céda
6 ch
cédait

Why the eye confuses céda with cédait

A purely visual mix-up. céda (\se.da\) and cédait (\se.dɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “céda” sits inside “cédait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

céda is recorded at frequency rank #38,740, classified as averb, pronounced \se.da\. cédait is at rank #40,706, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.dɛ\.

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 79446, this pair ranks #23,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of céda vs cédait

Shared letters: acdé. Private to "céda": -. Private to "cédait": it.

"céda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cédait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "céda" and "cédait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\se.da\ versus \se.dɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "céda" or "cédait"?
"céda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,740 in our French list, against #40,706 for "cédait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "céda" and "cédait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "céda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cédait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "céda" and "cédait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cédait vs cedar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #23,250 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