cimentvscimesConfusable pair

Which to use

“ciment” and “cimes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,134
“ciment” frequency rank
#37,727
“cimes” frequency rank
46861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ciment cimes
Definition Mélange de briques pulvérisées et de chaux dont on faisait un mortier ^([2]). Pluriel de cime.

Where the eye mixes ciment and cimes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
ciment
5 ch
cimes

Visual trap between ciment and cimes

A purely visual mix-up. ciment (\si.mɑ̃\) and cimes (\sim\) 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 46861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ciment is recorded at frequency rank #9,134, classified as anoun, pronounced \si.mɑ̃\. cimes is at rank #37,727, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sim\.

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 46861, this pair ranks #191,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ciment vs cimes

Shared letters: ceim. Private to "ciment": nt. Private to "cimes": s.

"ciment" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "cimes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cimentcciment · ciemnt · cimennt · cimentt · cimetn · cimment · cimnet · cmient
  • cimesccimes · ciems · cimess · cimmes · cimse · cmies · icmes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ciment" and "cimes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\si.mɑ̃\ versus \sim\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ciment" vs "cimes" - which ranks higher?
"ciment" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,134 in our French list, against #37,727 for "cimes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ciment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ciment" and "cimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs cimes". 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 #191,476 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list