Which to use
“cercle” and “cycle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,463
- “cercle” frequency rank
- #2,917
- “cycle” frequency rank
- 5380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cercle | cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Révolution astronomique. |
Where the eye mixes cercle and cycle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cercle runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against cycle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cercle with cycle
A purely visual mix-up. cercle (\sɛʁkl\) and cycle (\sikl\) 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 5380, 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\. cycle is at rank #2,917, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sikl\.
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 5380, this pair ranks #429,181 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cercle vs cycle
Shared letters: cel. Private to "cercle": r. Private to "cycle": y.
"cercle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "cycle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cercle" and "cycle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cercle" or "cycle"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cercle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cycle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,181 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cercle" and "cycle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cycle". 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 #429,181 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.