Which to use
“cible” is a noun and “cibler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,511
- “cible” frequency rank
- #16,320
- “cibler” frequency rank
- 18831
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cible | cibler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de planche servant de but pour le tir à l’arc ou avec des armes à feu. | Lancer quelque chose sur quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes cible and cibler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cible runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against cibler's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cible with cibler
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cible is \sibl\ while cibler is \si.ble\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cible” sits inside “cibler”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cible is recorded at frequency rank #2,511, classified as anoun, pronounced \sibl\. cibler is at rank #16,320, tagged as averb, pronounced \si.ble\.
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 18831, this pair ranks #376,362 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cible vs cibler
Shared letters: bceil. Private to "cible": -. Private to "cibler": r.
"cible" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cibler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cible" for "cibler" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cible" vs "cibler" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cible" and "cibler" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cibler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,362 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cible" and "cibler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cibler vs cuiller". 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 #376,362 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.