Which to use
“cédés” is a verb and “clés” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,204
- “cédés” frequency rank
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- 35870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cédés | clés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe céder. | Pluriel de clé. |
Where the eye mixes cédés and clés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cédés is \se.de\ while clés is \kle\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cédés is recorded at frequency rank #33,204, classified as averb, pronounced \se.de\. clés is at rank #2,666, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.
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 35870, this pair ranks #273,652 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cédés vs clés
Shared letters: csé. Private to "cédés": d. Private to "clés": l.
"cédés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC