Which to use
“cinglé” is an adjective and “civile” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,523
- “cinglé” frequency rank
- #1,731
- “civile” frequency rank
- 32254
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cinglé | civile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fou. | Personne de la population qui n’a pas le statut de combattante et qui n’est ni une prisonnière de guerre, ni une combattante ne prenant plus part aux hostilités (blessée, naufragée, malade, etc). |
Where the eye mixes cinglé and civile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cinglé (CVCCCV) and civile (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cinglé with civile
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cinglé is \sɛ̃.ɡle\ while civile is \si.vil\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cinglé is recorded at frequency rank #30,523, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃.ɡle\. civile is at rank #1,731, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.vil\.
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 32254, this pair ranks #298,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cinglé vs civile
Shared letters: cil. Private to "cinglé": gné. Private to "civile": ev.
"cinglé" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "civile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- civile ← ccivile · ciivle · civiel · civille · civlie · civvile · cviile · icvile
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cinglé" and "civile" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cinglé" or "civile" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cinglé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "civile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cinglé" and "civile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cinglé vs cinglés". 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 #298,470 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.