célèbre vs céleri, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“célèbre” is an adjective and “céleri” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,516
“célèbre” frequency rank: #34,489
“céleri” frequency rank: 36005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	célèbre	céleri
Definition	Qui est très connu par une population et ses médias.	Plante herbacée aromatique bisannuelle potagère de la famille des Apiacées de nom scientifique Apium graveolens dont il existe trois cultigroupes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set célèbre and céleri apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

célèbre

6 ch

céleri

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: célèbre is \se.lɛbʁ\ while céleri is \sɛl.ʁi\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

célèbre is recorded at frequency rank #1,516, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.lɛbʁ\. céleri is at rank #34,489, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛl.ʁi\.

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 36005, this pair ranks #272,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of célèbre vs céleri

Shared letters: celré. Private to "célèbre": bè. Private to "céleri": i.

"célèbre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "céleri" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

célèbre#1,516

céleri#34,489

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "célèbre" and "céleri" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "célèbre" is an adjective and "céleri" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "célèbre" or "céleri"?

"célèbre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,516 in our French list, against #34,489 for "céleri". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering célèbre vs céleri

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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