Which to use
“cernes” and “cures” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,275
- “cernes” frequency rank
- #30,120
- “cures” frequency rank
- 59395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cernes | cures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cerne. | Pluriel de cure. |
Where the eye mixes cernes and cures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cernes with cures
A purely visual mix-up. cernes (\sɛʁn\) and cures (\kyʁ\) 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 59395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cernes is recorded at frequency rank #29,275, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁn\. cures is at rank #30,120, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kyʁ\.
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 59395, this pair ranks #103,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cernes vs cures
Shared letters: cers. Private to "cernes": n. Private to "cures": u.
"cernes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cures" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cernes" for "cures" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cernes" or "cures" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cernes" and "cures" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cernes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cernes" and "cures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courges vs cures". 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 #103,398 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.