centièmes vs centime, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,512
“centièmes” frequency rank: #16,827
“centime” frequency rank: 47339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	centièmes	centime
Definition	Pluriel de centième.	La centième partie du franc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set centièmes and centime apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

centièmes

7 ch

centime

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centièmes is \sɑ̃.tjɛm\ while centime is \sɑ̃.tim\. 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 47339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

centièmes is recorded at frequency rank #30,512, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.tjɛm\. centime is at rank #16,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃.tim\.

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 47339, this pair ranks #187,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of centièmes vs centime

Shared letters: ceimnt. Private to "centièmes": sè. Private to "centime": -.

"centièmes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC · "centime" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

centime ← ccentime · cenitme · cenntime · centiem · centimme · centmie · centtime · cetnime

Frequency comparison

centièmes#30,512

centime#16,827

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "centièmes" and "centime" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "centièmes" or "centime"?

"centime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,827 in our French list, against #30,512 for "centièmes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering centièmes vs centime

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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