Which to use
“cèdre” is a noun and “coudre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,508
- “cèdre” frequency rank
- #18,451
- “coudre” frequency rank
- 46959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cèdre | coudre |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Assembler deux ou plusieurs objets avec un fil passé dans une aiguille ou un autre instrument semblable. |
Where the eye mixes cèdre and coudre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cèdre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against coudre's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cèdre with coudre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cèdre is \sɛdʁ\ while coudre is \kudʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46959, 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\. coudre is at rank #18,451, tagged as averb, pronounced \kudʁ\.
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 46959, this pair ranks #190,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cèdre vs coudre
Shared letters: cder. Private to "cèdre": è. Private to "coudre": ou.
"cèdre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "coudre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- coudre ← ccoudre · codure · couddre · couder · coudrre · courde · cuodre · ocudre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cèdre" and "coudre" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cèdre" vs "coudre" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "coudre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cèdre" and "coudre" 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 #190,702 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.