cerclevscerclesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,463
“cercle” frequency rank
#8,512
“cercles” frequency rank
10975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cercle cercles
Definition Dans un plan euclidien, lieu de tous les points équidistants d’un point donné appelé le centre du cercle. La distance au centre s’appelle le rayon. Pluriel de cercle.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cercle and cercles apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
cercle
7 ch
cercles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. cercle and cercles are pronounced identically (\sɛʁkl\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cercle” sits inside “cercles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cercle is recorded at frequency rank #2,463, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁkl\. cercles is at rank #8,512, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁkl\.

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 10975, this pair ranks #410,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cercle vs cercles

Shared letters: celr. Private to "cercle": -. Private to "cercles": s.

"cercle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "cercles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cercleccercle · cecrle · cerccle · cercel · cerclle · cerlce · cerrcle · crecle
  • cerclesccercles · cecrles · cerccles · cercels · cercless · cerclles · cerclse · cerlces

Frequency comparison

cercle#2,463
cercles#8,512

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cercle" and "cercles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\sɛʁkl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "cercle" or "cercles"?
"cercle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,463 in our French list, against #8,512 for "cercles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cercle vs cercles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cercle” 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