centrervscintreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: centrer is a verb, cintre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“centrer” is a verb and “cintre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,164
“centrer” frequency rank
#26,297
“cintre” frequency rank
59461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature centrer cintre
Definition Mettre dans son centre. Courbure en arcade, en demi-cercle.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set centrer and cintre apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
centrer
6 ch
cintre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centrer is \sɑ̃.tʁe\ while cintre is \sɛ̃tʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

centrer is recorded at frequency rank #33,164, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\. cintre is at rank #26,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃tʁ\.

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 59461, this pair ranks #103,004 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of centrer vs cintre

Shared letters: cenrt. Private to "centrer": -. Private to "cintre": i.

"centrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "cintre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • centrerccentrer · cenntrer · cenrter · centrerr · centrrer · centtrer · cetnrer · cnetrer
  • cintreccintre · cinntre · cinrte · cinter · cintrre · cinttre · citnre · cnitre

Frequency comparison

centrer#33,164
cintre#26,297

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "centrer" and "cintre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "centrer" is a verb and "cintre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "centrer" or "cintre"?
"cintre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,297 in our French list, against #33,164 for "centrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering centrer vs cintre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list