cessentvscessonsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,011
“cessent” frequency rank
#34,017
“cessons” frequency rank
45028
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cessent cessons
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe cesser. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe cesser.

Where the eye mixes cessent and cessons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cessent
7 ch
cessons

Why the eye confuses cessent with cessons

A purely visual mix-up. cessent (\sɛs\) and cessons (\sɛ.sɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cessent is recorded at frequency rank #11,011, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛs\. cessons is at rank #34,017, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛ.sɔ̃\.

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 45028, this pair ranks #205,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cessent vs cessons

Shared letters: cens. Private to "cessent": t. Private to "cessons": o.

"cessent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "cessons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cessentccessent · cesent · cesesnt · cessennt · cessentt · cessetn · cessnet · csesent
  • cessonsccessons · cesons · cesosns · cessnos · cessonns · cessonss · cessosn · csesons

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cessent" for "cessons" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɛs\ versus \sɛ.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cessent" or "cessons"?
"cessent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,011 in our French list, against #34,017 for "cessons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cessent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cessons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #205,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cessent" and "cessons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cessant vs cessons". 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 #205,946 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