Which to use
“celles” and “cernes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #704
- “celles” frequency rank
- #29,275
- “cernes” frequency rank
- 29979
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | celles | cernes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de celle. | Pluriel de cerne. |
Where the eye mixes celles and cernes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: celles vs cernes
A purely visual mix-up. celles (\sɛl\) and cernes (\sɛʁn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
celles is recorded at frequency rank #704, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛl\. cernes is at rank #29,275, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁn\.
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 29979, this pair ranks #313,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of celles vs cernes
Shared letters: ces. Private to "celles": l. Private to "cernes": nr.
"celles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cernes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "celles" for "cernes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "celles" vs "cernes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "celles" and "cernes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "celles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cernes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "celles" and "cernes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carpes vs cernes". 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 #313,237 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.