Which to use
“cible” and “crible” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,511
- “cible” frequency rank
- #27,390
- “crible” frequency rank
- 29901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cible | crible |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de planche servant de but pour le tir à l’arc ou avec des armes à feu. | Instrument percé d’un grand nombre de trous qui sert à trier des objets de grosseur ou de qualité inégales, en laissant passer les uns et en repoussant les autres. |
Where the eye mixes cible and crible
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cible with crible
A purely visual mix-up. cible (\sibl\) and crible (\kʁibl\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29901, 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\. crible is at rank #27,390, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁibl\.
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 29901, this pair ranks #313,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cible vs crible
Shared letters: bceil. Private to "cible": -. Private to "crible": r.
"cible" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "crible" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cible" for "crible" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cible" or "crible" show up more?
What to do next
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 "crible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cible" and "crible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crible vs crisse". 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 #313,768 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.