Which to use
“ciment” is a noun and “clément” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,134
- “ciment” frequency rank
- #5,434
- “clément” frequency rank
- 14568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ciment | clément |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mélange de briques pulvérisées et de chaux dont on faisait un mortier ^([2]). | Qui pratique la clémence. |
Where the eye mixes ciment and clément
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ciment with clément
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ciment is \si.mɑ̃\ while clément is \kle.mɑ̃\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14568, 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\. clément is at rank #5,434, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kle.mɑ̃\.
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 14568, this pair ranks #396,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ciment vs clément
Shared letters: cemnt. Private to "ciment": i. Private to "clément": lé.
"ciment" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "clément" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ciment ← cciment · ciemnt · cimennt · cimentt · cimetn · cimment · cimnet · cmient
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ciment" and "clément" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ciment" or "clément"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ciment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clément" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ciment" and "clément" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chient vs ciment". 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 #396,104 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.