Which to use
“cible” and “clé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,511
- “cible” frequency rank
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- 4498
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cible | clé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de planche servant de but pour le tir à l’arc ou avec des armes à feu. | Instrument de métal que l’on introduit dans une serrure pour ouvrir ou fermer un accès. Ancienne clé à panneton que l'on place et fait tourner dans la serrure d'une porte, d'un coffre, etc. |
Where the eye mixes cible and clé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cible and clé
A purely visual mix-up. cible (\sibl\) and clé (\kle\) 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 4498, 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\. clé is at rank #1,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.
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 4498, this pair ranks #431,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cible vs clé
Shared letters: cl. Private to "cible": bei. Private to "clé": é.
"cible" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cible ← cbile · ccible · cibble · cibel · ciblle · cilbe · icble
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cible" and "clé" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cible" or "clé" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cible" and "clé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs clé". 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 #431,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.