cesevscsiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,212
“cese” frequency rank
#30,552
“csi” frequency rank
77764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cese csi
Definition Cessation, action de cesser. Ksi.

Where the eye mixes cese and csi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cese
3 ch
csi

Why the eye confuses cese with csi

A purely visual mix-up. cese (\ˈθese\) and csi (\ˈksi\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77764, 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\. csi is at rank #30,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈksi\.

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 77764, this pair ranks #27,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cese vs csi

Shared letters: cs. Private to "cese": e. Private to "csi": i.

"cese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "csi" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceseccese · cees · csee · ecse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cese" for "csi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈθese\ versus \ˈksi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cese" vs "csi" - which ranks higher?
"csi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,552 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.

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 "cese" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "csi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cese" and "csi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cese". 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 #27,534 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