Which to use
“ciné” and “clé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,941
- “ciné” frequency rank
- #1,987
- “clé” frequency rank
- 9928
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ciné | clé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Salle de cinéma. | Instrument de métal que l’on introduit dans une serrure pour ouvrir ou fermer un accès. Ancienne clé à panneton que l'on place et fait tourner dans la serrure d'une porte, d'un coffre, etc. |
Where the eye mixes ciné and clé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ciné with clé
A purely visual mix-up. ciné (\si.ne\) and clé (\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 9928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ciné is recorded at frequency rank #7,941, classified as anoun, pronounced \si.ne\. clé is at rank #1,987, 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 9928, this pair ranks #414,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ciné vs clé
Shared letters: cé. Private to "ciné": in. Private to "clé": l.
"ciné" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ciné" and "clé" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "ciné" or "clé" 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 "ciné" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ciné" and "clé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciné vs conde". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #414,906 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.