cepvsculWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,421
“cep” frequency rank
#999
“cul” frequency rank
36420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cep cul
Definition Pied de vigne, et plus largement tronc d'un arbuste. Derrière d’un animal, d’un humain, ses fesses, son postérieur.

Where the eye mixes cep and cul

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
cep
3 ch
cul

Visual trap between cep and cul

A purely visual mix-up. cep (\sɛp\) and cul (\ky\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cep is recorded at frequency rank #35,421, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛp\. cul is at rank #999, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ky\.

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 36420, this pair ranks #269,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cep vs cul

Shared letters: c. Private to "cep": ep. Private to "cul": lu.

"cep" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "cul" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cep" and "cul" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɛp\ versus \ky\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cep" vs "cul" - which ranks higher?
"cul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #999 in our French list, against #35,421 for "cep". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cul" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cep" and "cul" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #269,744 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