Which to use
“cèdre” and “cire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,508
- “cèdre” frequency rank
- #9,617
- “cire” frequency rank
- 38125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cèdre | cire |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Ester d'éthylène glycol et d'acides gras. |
Where the eye mixes cèdre and cire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cèdre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against cire's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cèdre and cire
A purely visual mix-up. cèdre (\sɛdʁ\) and cire (\siʁ\) 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 38125, 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\. cire is at rank #9,617, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siʁ\.
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 38125, this pair ranks #257,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cèdre vs cire
Shared letters: cer. Private to "cèdre": dè. Private to "cire": i.
"cèdre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cire ← ccire · cier · cirre · icre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cèdre" and "cire" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cèdre" vs "cire" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cèdre" and "cire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cèdre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cèdre" and "cire" 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 #257,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.