cédavscédésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,740
“céda” frequency rank
#33,204
“cédés” frequency rank
71944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature céda cédés
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe céder. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe céder.

Where the eye mixes céda and cédés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. céda runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cédés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
céda
5 ch
cédés

Visual trap between céda and cédés

A purely visual mix-up. céda (\se.da\) and cédés (\se.de\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71944, 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\. cédés is at rank #33,204, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.de\.

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 71944, this pair ranks #45,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of céda vs cédés

Shared letters: cdé. Private to "céda": a. Private to "cédés": s.

"céda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cédés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "céda" and "cédés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\se.da\ versus \se.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "céda" or "cédés"?
"cédés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,204 in our French list, against #38,740 for "céda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "céda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cédés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "céda" and "cédés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "céda vs cedar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,731 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