cettevscuiteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cette is a determiner, cuite is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cette” is a determiner and “cuite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#55
“cette” frequency rank
#9,301
“cuite” frequency rank
9356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cette cuite
Definition Féminin singulier du déterminant démonstratif ce. Sorte de cuisson donnée à la porcelaine, aux briques, au plâtre, etc.

Where the eye mixes cette and cuite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cette
5 ch
cuite

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cette is \sɛt\ while cuite is \kɥit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cette is recorded at frequency rank #55, classified as adet, pronounced \sɛt\. cuite is at rank #9,301, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɥit\.

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 9356, this pair ranks #416,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cette vs cuite

Shared letters: cet. Private to "cette": -. Private to "cuite": iu.

"cette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cuite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cetteccette · cete · cetet · ctete · ectte
  • cuiteccuite · ciute · cuiet · cuitte · cutie · ucite

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cette" and "cuite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cette" is a determiner and "cuite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cette" or "cuite"?
"cette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #55 in our French list, against #9,301 for "cuite". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "cette" and "cuite". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cette" and "cuite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuite vs cupide". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list