ceivsceseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cei is a article, cese is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cei” is an article and “cese” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,876
“cei” frequency rank
#47,212
“cese” frequency rank
79088
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cei cese
Definition Article adjectival (ou démonstratif) nominatif et accusatif masculin pluriel, généralement traduit par « les ». Cessation, action de cesser.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cei and cese apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
cei
4 ch
cese

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cei is anarticle and ceseanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cei is recorded at frequency rank #31,876, classified as anarticle. cese is at rank #47,212, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈθese\.

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 79088, this pair ranks #24,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cei vs cese

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cei": i. Private to "cese": s.

"cei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "cese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceseccese · cees · csee · ecse

Frequency comparison

cei#31,876
cese#47,212

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cei" and "cese" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cei" is an article and "cese" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cei" or "cese"?
"cei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,876 in our French list, against #47,212 for "cese". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cei vs cese

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an article, it's “cei”; for a noun, it's “cese”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cei” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list