Which to use
“ces” is a determiner and “clefs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #74
- “ces” frequency rank
- #8,516
- “clefs” frequency rank
- 8590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ces | clefs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ce et cette. | Pluriel de clef. |
Where the eye mixes ces and clefs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ces vs clefs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ces is \se\ while clefs is \kle\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ces is recorded at frequency rank #74, classified as adet, pronounced \se\. clefs is at rank #8,516, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.
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 8590, this pair ranks #419,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ces vs clefs
Shared letters: ces. Private to "ces": -. Private to "clefs": fl.
"ces" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "clefs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- clefs ← cclefs · celfs · cleffs · clefss · clesf · clfes · cllefs · lcefs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ces" for "clefs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ces" vs "clefs" - which ranks higher?
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 "ces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clefs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ces" and "clefs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs ces". 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 #419,521 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.