cesevscésureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cese” and “césure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,212
“cese” frequency rank
#44,409
“césure” frequency rank
91621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cese césure
Definition Cessation, action de cesser. Coupure d’un vers. Sorte de repos qui est placé en des endroits différents selon la nature des vers.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cese and césure apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cese
6 ch
césure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cese (\ˈθese\) and césure (\se.zyʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cese is recorded at frequency rank #47,212, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈθese\. 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 91621, this pair ranks #3,674 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cese vs césure

Shared letters: ces. Private to "cese": -. Private to "césure": rué.

"cese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "césure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceseccese · cees · csee · ecse

Frequency comparison

cese#47,212
césure#44,409

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cese" and "césure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈθese\ versus \se.zyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cese" or "césure"?
"césure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,409 in our French list, against #47,212 for "cese". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cese vs césure

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cese” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list