ciblésvscribleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ciblés is a verb, crible is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ciblés” is a verb and “crible” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,957
“ciblés” frequency rank
#27,390
“crible” frequency rank
48347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ciblés crible
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe cibler. 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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ciblés and crible apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ciblés
6 ch
crible

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ciblés is \si.ble\ while crible is \kʁibl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48347, 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\. 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 48347, this pair ranks #179,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ciblés vs crible

Shared letters: bcil. Private to "ciblés": . Private to "crible": er.

"ciblés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "crible" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cribleccrible · cirble · crbile · cribble · cribel · criblle · crilbe · crrible

Frequency comparison

ciblés#20,957
crible#27,390

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ciblés" and "crible" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ciblés" is a verb and "crible" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ciblés" or "crible"?
"ciblés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,957 in our French list, against #27,390 for "crible". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ciblés vs crible

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “ciblés”; for a noun, it's “crible”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ciblés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list