Which to use
“celles” and “clés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #704
- “celles” frequency rank
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- 3370
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | celles | clés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de celle. | Pluriel de clé. |
Where the eye mixes celles and clés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: celles vs clés
A purely visual mix-up. celles (\sɛl\) and clés (\kle\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
celles is recorded at frequency rank #704, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛl\. clés is at rank #2,666, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.
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 3370, this pair ranks #434,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of celles vs clés
Shared letters: cls. Private to "celles": e. Private to "clés": é.
"celles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- celles ← ccelles · celels · celes · celless · cellse · cleles · eclles
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "celles" for "clés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "celles" vs "clés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "celles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "celles" and "clés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs clés". 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 #434,197 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.