cédaitvscréaitConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,706
“cédait” frequency rank
#27,028
“créait” frequency rank
67734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cédait créait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe céder. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de créer.

Where the eye mixes cédait and créait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cédait (CVCVVC) and créait (CCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cédait
6 ch
créait

Visual trap between cédait and créait

A purely visual mix-up. cédait (\se.dɛ\) and créait (\kʁe.ɛ\) 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 67734, 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\. créait is at rank #27,028, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁe.ɛ\.

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 67734, this pair ranks #62,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cédait vs créait

Shared letters: acité. Private to "cédait": d. Private to "créait": r.

"cédait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "créait" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cédait" for "créait" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\se.dɛ\ versus \kʁe.ɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cédait" vs "créait" - which ranks higher?
"créait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,028 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cédait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "créait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cédait" and "créait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cédait vs cedar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #62,125 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