cèdrevscendresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,508
“cèdre” frequency rank
#7,409
“cendres” frequency rank
35917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cèdre cendres
Definition Espèce d’arbre du genre Cedrus, conifère de grande taille de la famille des Pinacées, aux branches horizontales en plans superposés et à cônes globuleux et dressés, souvent utilisé pour l’ornementation et dont le bois passe pour incorruptible. Pluriel de cendre.

Where the eye mixes cèdre and cendres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cèdre
7 ch
cendres

Visual trap between cèdre and cendres

A purely visual mix-up. cèdre (\sɛdʁ\) and cendres (\sɑ̃dʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cèdre is recorded at frequency rank #28,508, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛdʁ\. cendres is at rank #7,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃dʁ\.

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 35917, this pair ranks #273,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cèdre vs cendres

Shared letters: cder. Private to "cèdre": è. Private to "cendres": ns.

"cèdre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cendres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cendresccendres · cednres · cenddres · cenders · cendress · cendrres · cendrse · cenndres

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cèdre" and "cendres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sɛdʁ\ versus \sɑ̃dʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cèdre" vs "cendres" - which ranks higher?
"cendres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,409 in our French list, against #28,508 for "cèdre". 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 "cèdre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cendres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cèdre" and "cendres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cedar vs cèdre". 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 #273,267 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