Which to use
“cerveau” and “cerveaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,730
- “cerveau” frequency rank
- #12,927
- “cerveaux” frequency rank
- 14657
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerveau | cerveaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Organe central supervisant le système nerveux des animaux présentant une céphalisation ; encéphale. | Pluriel de cerveau. |
Same sound, different letters: cerveau vs cerveaux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. cerveau runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against cerveaux's 8 (CVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - cerveau and cerveaux
This is the hard kind. cerveau and cerveaux are pronounced identically (\sɛʁ.vo\) 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) - “cerveau” sits inside “cerveaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerveau is recorded at frequency rank #1,730, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁ.vo\. cerveaux is at rank #12,927, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁ.vo\.
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 14657, this pair ranks #395,752 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cerveau vs cerveaux
Shared letters: aceruv. Private to "cerveau": -. Private to "cerveaux": x.
"cerveau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV · "cerveaux" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cerveau" for "cerveaux" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cerveau" or "cerveaux"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerveau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cerveaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,752 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerveau" and "cerveaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerceau vs cerveaux". 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 #395,752 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.