Which to use
“celte” is an adjective and “clé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,360
- “celte” frequency rank
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- 29347
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | celte | clé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relatif aux Celtes. | Instrument de métal que l’on introduit dans une serrure pour ouvrir ou fermer un accès. Ancienne clé à panneton que l'on place et fait tourner dans la serrure d'une porte, d'un coffre, etc. |
Where the eye mixes celte and clé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses celte with clé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: celte is \sɛlt\ while clé is \kle\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 29347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
celte is recorded at frequency rank #27,360, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛlt\. clé is at rank #1,987, 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 29347, this pair ranks #317,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of celte vs clé
Shared letters: cl. Private to "celte": et. Private to "clé": é.
"celte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- celte ← ccelte · celet · cellte · celtte · cetle · clete · eclte
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "celte" and "clé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "celte" or "clé"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "celte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "celte" and "clé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calée vs celte". 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 #317,247 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.