cimevscitesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,745
“cime” frequency rank
#28,100
“cites” frequency rank
60845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cime cites
Definition Partie la plus haute d’une montagne, d’un rocher, d’un arbre, etc. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cime and cites apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cime
5 ch
cites

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cime is \sim\ while cites is \sit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cime is recorded at frequency rank #32,745, classified as anoun, pronounced \sim\. 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 60845, this pair ranks #95,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cime vs cites

Shared letters: cei. Private to "cime": m. Private to "cites": st.

"cime" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cimeccime · ciem · cimme · cmie · icme
  • citesccites · ciets · citess · citse · cittes · cties · ictes

Frequency comparison

cime#32,745
cites#28,100

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cime" and "cites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cime" is a noun and "cites" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cime" or "cites"?
"cites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,100 in our French list, against #32,745 for "cime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cime vs cites

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cime”; for a verb, it's “cites”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cime” 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