cesvscodésConfusable pair

Quick tell: ces is a determiner, codés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ces” is a determiner and “codés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#74
“ces” frequency rank
#47,232
“codés” frequency rank
47306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ces codés
Definition Pluriel de ce et cette. Masculin pluriel de codé.

Where the eye mixes ces and codés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ces runs 3 letters (CVC) against codés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ces
5 ch
codés

Look-alike desk: ces vs codés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ces is \se\ while codés is \kɔ.de\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ces is recorded at frequency rank #74, classified as adet, pronounced \se\. codés is at rank #47,232, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.de\.

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 47306, this pair ranks #187,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ces vs codés

Shared letters: cs. Private to "ces": e. Private to "codés": doé.

"ces" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "codés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ces" and "codés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ces" is a determiner and "codés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ces" or "codés" show up more?
"ces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #74 in our French list, against #47,232 for "codés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ces" and "codés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "codés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ces" and "codés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "codés vs conde". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #187,996 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