céréalevscéréalesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: céréale is a adjective, céréales is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“céréale” is an adjective and “céréales” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,490
“céréale” frequency rank
#5,856
“céréales” frequency rank
40346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature céréale céréales
Definition Qualifie les plantes qui produisent des graines propres à la nourriture de l’homme et de certains animaux domestiques. Pluriel de céréale.

Same sound, different letters: céréale vs céréales

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. céréale runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against céréales's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
céréale
8 ch
céréales

Ear matches; page differs - céréale and céréales

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: céréale and céréales carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.ʁe.al\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “céréale” sits inside “céréales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

céréale is recorded at frequency rank #34,490, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.ʁe.al\. céréales is at rank #5,856, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ʁe.al\.

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 40346, this pair ranks #241,226 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of céréale vs céréales

Shared letters: acelré. Private to "céréale": -. Private to "céréales": s.

"céréale" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "céréales" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "céréale" and "céréales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "céréale" is an adjective and "céréales" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "céréale" vs "céréales" - which ranks higher?
"céréales" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,856 in our French list, against #34,490 for "céréale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"céréale" and "céréales" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "céréale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "céréales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #241,226 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "céréale" and "céréales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "céréale vs cervelle". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #241,226 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