Which to use
“cimes” is a noun and “cites” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,727
- “cimes” frequency rank
- #28,100
- “cites” frequency rank
- 65827
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cimes | cites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cime. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. |
Where the eye mixes cimes and cites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cimes and cites follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cimes vs cites
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cimes is \sim\ while cites is \sit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “cimes” becomes t in “cites”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cimes is recorded at frequency rank #37,727, 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 65827, this pair ranks #70,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cimes vs cites
Shared letters: ceis. Private to "cimes": m. Private to "cites": t.
"cimes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cimes" and "cites" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cimes" or "cites" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cimes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cimes" and "cites" 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 #70,589 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.