CésairevscésureTell them apart

Quick tell: Césaire is a name, césure is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Césaire” is a name and “césure” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,686
“Césaire” frequency rank
#44,409
“césure” frequency rank
71095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Césaire césure
Definition Prénom masculin. Coupure d’un vers. Sorte de repos qui est placé en des endroits différents selon la nature des vers.

Where the eye mixes Césaire and césure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Césaire runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against césure's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Césaire
6 ch
césure

Look-alike desk: Césaire vs césure

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Césaire is \se.zɛʁ\ while césure is \se.zyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Césaire is recorded at frequency rank #26,686, classified as aname, pronounced \se.zɛʁ\. césure is at rank #44,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.zyʁ\.

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 71095, this pair ranks #48,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Césaire vs césure

Shared letters: cersé. Private to "Césaire": ai. Private to "césure": u.

"Césaire" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "césure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Césaire" for "césure" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Césaire" is a name and "césure" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Césaire" vs "césure" - which ranks higher?
"Césaire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,686 in our French list, against #44,409 for "césure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Césaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "césure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Césaire" and "césure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cese vs césure". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #48,834 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