Which to use
“cils” and “clé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,107
- “cils” frequency rank
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- 17094
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cils | clé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cil. | 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 cils and clé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cils vs clé
A purely visual mix-up. cils (\sil\) 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 17094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cils is recorded at frequency rank #15,107, classified as anoun, pronounced \sil\. 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 17094, this pair ranks #384,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cils vs clé
Shared letters: cl. Private to "cils": is. Private to "clé": é.
"cils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cils ← ccils · cills · cilss · cisl · clis · icls
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cils" for "clé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cils" or "clé"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cils" and "clé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cils" 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 #384,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cils" and "clé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cils vs ciro". 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 #384,826 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.