Which to use
“cible” is a noun and “cinglé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,511
- “cible” frequency rank
- #30,523
- “cinglé” frequency rank
- 33034
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cible | cinglé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de planche servant de but pour le tir à l’arc ou avec des armes à feu. | Fou. |
Where the eye mixes cible and cinglé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cible with cinglé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cible is \sibl\ while cinglé is \sɛ̃.ɡle\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33034, 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\. cinglé is at rank #30,523, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃.ɡle\.
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 33034, this pair ranks #293,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cible vs cinglé
Shared letters: cil. Private to "cible": be. Private to "cinglé": gné.
"cible" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cinglé" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cible ← cbile · ccible · cibble · cibel · ciblle · cilbe · icble
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cible" for "cinglé" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cible" vs "cinglé" - which ranks higher?
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 "cible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cinglé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cible" and "cinglé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cinglé vs cinglés". 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 #293,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.