cédéesvscernesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cédées is a verb, cernes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cédées” is a verb and “cernes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,237
“cédées” frequency rank
#29,275
“cernes” frequency rank
67512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cédées cernes
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe céder. Pluriel de cerne.

Where the eye mixes cédées and cernes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cédées (CVCVVC) and cernes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cédées
6 ch
cernes

Why the eye confuses cédées with cernes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cédées is \se.de\ while cernes is \sɛʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cédées is recorded at frequency rank #38,237, classified as averb, pronounced \se.de\. cernes is at rank #29,275, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁn\.

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 67512, this pair ranks #63,130 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cédées vs cernes

Shared letters: ces. Private to "cédées": dé. Private to "cernes": nr.

"cédées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "cernes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cernes ← ccernes · cenres · cerens · cerness · cernnes · cernse · cerrnes · crenes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cédées" and "cernes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cédées" is a verb and "cernes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cédées" vs "cernes" - which ranks higher?
"cernes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,275 in our French list, against #38,237 for "cédées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cédées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cernes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,130 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cédées" and "cernes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cédées vs cuvées". 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 #63,130 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