cédésvsClèvesTell them apart

Quick tell: cédés is a verb, Clèves is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cédés” is a verb and “Clèves” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,204
“cédés” frequency rank
#39,221
“Clèves” frequency rank
72425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cédés Clèves
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe céder. Ville d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie.

Where the eye mixes cédés and Clèves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cédés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Clèves's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cédés
6 ch
Clèves

Visual trap between cédés and Clèves

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cédés is \se.de\ while Clèves is \klɛv\. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72425, 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\. Clèves is at rank #39,221, tagged as aname, pronounced \klɛv\.

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 72425, this pair ranks #44,053 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cédés vs Clèves

Shared letters: cs. Private to "cédés": dé. Private to "Clèves": elvè.

"cédés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Clèves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cédés" and "Clèves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cédés" is a verb and "Clèves" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cédés" or "Clèves"?
"cédés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,204 in our French list, against #39,221 for "Clèves". 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 "cédés" and "Clèves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cédés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Clèves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,053 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cédés" and "Clèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clavel vs Clèves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,053 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