Which to use
“cerceau” and “corbeau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,833
- “cerceau” frequency rank
- #16,329
- “corbeau” frequency rank
- 60162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerceau | corbeau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lame de fer mince ou latte de bois flexible, formant un cercle, dont on se sert pour maintenir les douves des tonneaux, des cuves, etc. | Nom vernaculaire du grand corbeau (Corvus corax), gros oiseau passereau carnassier à plumage noir et au bec fort et noir. |
Where the eye mixes cerceau and corbeau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cerceau and corbeau follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between cerceau and corbeau
A purely visual mix-up. cerceau (\sɛʁ.so\) and corbeau (\kɔʁ.bo\) 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 60162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerceau is recorded at frequency rank #43,833, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁ.so\. corbeau is at rank #16,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.bo\.
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 60162, this pair ranks #99,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cerceau vs corbeau
Shared letters: aceru. Private to "cerceau": -. Private to "corbeau": bo.
"cerceau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV · "corbeau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cerceau" for "corbeau" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cerceau" or "corbeau"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cerceau" and "corbeau" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerceau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corbeau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerceau" and "corbeau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carreau vs cerceau". 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 #99,119 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.