cédavscédezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,740
“céda” frequency rank
#47,273
“cédez” frequency rank
86013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature céda cédez
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe céder. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe céder.

Where the eye mixes céda and cédez

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

4 ch
céda
5 ch
cédez

Why the eye confuses céda with cédez

A purely visual mix-up. céda (\se.da\) and cédez (\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 86013, 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\. cédez is at rank #47,273, 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 86013, this pair ranks #10,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of céda vs cédez

Shared letters: cdé. Private to "céda": a. Private to "cédez": ez.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "céda" for "cédez" ever safe?
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.
In ordinary French text, does "céda" or "cédez" show up more?
"céda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,740 in our French list, against #47,273 for "cédez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "céda" and "cédez" 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 "cédez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "céda" and "cédez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cedar vs cédez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,391 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