centièmesvscentréesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“centièmes” and “centrées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,512
“centièmes” frequency rank
#35,420
“centrées” frequency rank
65932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature centièmes centrées
Definition Pluriel de centième. Féminin pluriel de centré.

Where the eye mixes centièmes and centrées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. centièmes runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against centrées's 8 (CVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
centièmes
8 ch
centrées

Why the eye confuses centièmes with centrées

A purely visual mix-up. centièmes (\sɑ̃.tjɛm\) and centrées (\sɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65932, 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\. centrées is at rank #35,420, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 65932, this pair ranks #70,102 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of centièmes vs centrées

Shared letters: censt. Private to "centièmes": imè. Private to "centrées": ré.

"centièmes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "centrées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "centièmes" for "centrées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.tjɛm\ versus \sɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "centièmes" or "centrées"?
"centièmes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,512 in our French list, against #35,420 for "centrées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "centièmes" and "centrées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "centièmes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "centrées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,102 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "centièmes" and "centrées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centers vs centrées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,102 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list