Which to use
“cédait” and “citait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,706
- “cédait” frequency rank
- #39,214
- “citait” frequency rank
- 79920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cédait | citait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe céder. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe citer. |
Where the eye mixes cédait and citait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cédait and citait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cédait with citait
A purely visual mix-up. cédait (\se.dɛ\) and citait (\si.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cédait is recorded at frequency rank #40,706, classified as averb, pronounced \se.dɛ\. citait is at rank #39,214, tagged as averb, pronounced \si.tɛ\.
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 79920, this pair ranks #22,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cédait vs citait
Shared letters: acit. Private to "cédait": dé. Private to "citait": -.
"cédait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "citait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- citait ← ccitait · ciatit · citaitt · citati · citiat · cittait · ctiait · ictait
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cédait" for "citait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cédait" vs "citait" - which ranks higher?
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 "cédait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "citait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cédait" and "citait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cédait vs cedar". 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 #22,148 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.