Which to use
“cerne” and “corte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,332
- “cerne” frequency rank
- #27,386
- “corte” frequency rank
- 70718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerne | corte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cercle sombre qui se forme autour de l’œil. | Cour. |
Where the eye mixes cerne and corte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cerne and corte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cerne vs corte
A purely visual mix-up. cerne (\sɛʁn\) and corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) 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 70718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerne is recorded at frequency rank #43,332, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁn\. corte is at rank #27,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.te\.
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 70718, this pair ranks #50,302 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cerne vs corte
Shared letters: cer. Private to "cerne": n. Private to "corte": ot.
"cerne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cerne" for "corte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cerne" vs "corte" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,302 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerne" and "corte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerne vs CNE". 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 #50,302 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.