cédezvscessezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,273
“cédez” frequency rank
#9,129
“cessez” frequency rank
56402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cédez cessez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe céder. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe cesser.

Where the eye mixes cédez and cessez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cédez runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cessez's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cédez
6 ch
cessez

Look-alike desk: cédez vs cessez

A purely visual mix-up. cédez (\se.de\) and cessez (\sɛ.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cédez is recorded at frequency rank #47,273, classified as averb, pronounced \se.de\. cessez is at rank #9,129, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛ.se\.

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 56402, this pair ranks #121,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cédez vs cessez

Shared letters: cez. Private to "cédez": dé. Private to "cessez": s.

"cédez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cessez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cessez ← ccessez · cesesz · cesez · cessezz · cessze · csesez · ecssez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cédez" and "cessez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\se.de\ versus \sɛ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cédez" or "cessez"?
"cessez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,129 in our French list, against #47,273 for "cédez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cédez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cessez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cédez" and "cessez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cedar vs cédez". 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 #121,309 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