cessationvscessionConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,828
“cessation” frequency rank
#8,078
“cession” frequency rank
24906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cessation cession
Definition Action de cesser quelque chose. Action de céder, de transférer à un autre ce dont on est propriétaire.

Where the eye mixes cessation and cession

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
cessation
7 ch
cession

Visual trap between cessation and cession

A purely visual mix-up. cessation (\sɛ.sa.sjɔ̃\) and cession (\sɛ.sjɔ̃\) 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 24906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cessation is recorded at frequency rank #16,828, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛ.sa.sjɔ̃\. cession is at rank #8,078, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛ.sjɔ̃\.

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 24906, this pair ranks #343,900 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cessation vs cession

Shared letters: ceinos. Private to "cessation": at. Private to "cession": -.

"cessation" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "cession" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cessationccessation · cesastion · cesation · cessaiton · cessatino · cessationn · cessatoin · cessattion
  • cessionccession · cesion · cesison · cessino · cessionn · cessoin · csesion · ecssion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cessation" and "cession" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sɛ.sa.sjɔ̃\ versus \sɛ.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cessation" or "cession"?
"cession" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,078 in our French list, against #16,828 for "cessation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cessation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cession" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #343,900 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cessation" and "cession" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cassin vs cession". 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 #343,900 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