Which to use
“ciel” and “clé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,085
- “ciel” frequency rank
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- 3072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ciel | clé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace immense dans lequel se meuvent tous les astres. | 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 ciel and clé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ciel and clé
A purely visual mix-up. ciel (\sjɛl\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ciel is recorded at frequency rank #1,085, classified as anoun, pronounced \sjɛl\. 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 3072, this pair ranks #434,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ciel vs clé
Shared letters: cl. Private to "ciel": ei. Private to "clé": é.
"ciel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ciel ← cciel · ceil · ciell · cile · icel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ciel" and "clé" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ciel" vs "clé" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ciel" and "clé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ciel" 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 #434,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ciel" 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 #434,848 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.