Which to use
“ciblés” and “cites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,957
- “ciblés” frequency rank
- #28,100
- “cites” frequency rank
- 49057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ciblés | cites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe cibler. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. |
Where the eye mixes ciblés and cites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ciblés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cites's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ciblés with cites
A purely visual mix-up. ciblés (\si.ble\) and cites (\sit\) 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 49057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ciblés is recorded at frequency rank #20,957, classified as averb, pronounced \si.ble\. cites is at rank #28,100, tagged as averb, pronounced \sit\.
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 49057, this pair ranks #173,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ciblés vs cites
Shared letters: cis. Private to "ciblés": blé. Private to "cites": et.
"ciblés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cites ← ccites · ciets · citess · citse · cittes · cties · ictes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ciblés" and "cites" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "ciblés" or "cites" 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 "ciblés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ciblés" and "cites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs cites". 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 #173,819 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.