Which to use
“cimes” and “clés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,727
- “cimes” frequency rank
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- 40393
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cimes | clés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cime. | Pluriel de clé. |
Where the eye mixes cimes and clés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cimes vs clés
A purely visual mix-up. cimes (\sim\) and clés (\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 40393, 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\. clés is at rank #2,666, 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 40393, this pair ranks #240,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cimes vs clés
Shared letters: cs. Private to "cimes": eim. Private to "clés": lé.
"cimes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cimes ← ccimes · ciems · cimess · cimmes · cimse · cmies · icmes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cimes" and "clés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cimes" or "clés"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cimes" and "clés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cimes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #240,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cimes" and "clés" 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 #240,856 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.