Which to use
“cinq” is an adjective and “cité” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #424
- “cinq” frequency rank
- #1,224
- “cité” frequency rank
- 1648
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cinq | cité |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Adjectif numéral correspondant au cardinal quatre plus un. | Ville, surtout quand on veut en faire ressortir l’importance. |
Where the eye mixes cinq and cité
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cinq and cité
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cinq is \sɛ̃k\ while cité is \si.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 1648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cinq is recorded at frequency rank #424, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃k\. cité is at rank #1,224, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.te\.
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 1648, this pair ranks #437,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cinq vs cité
Shared letters: ci. Private to "cinq": nq. Private to "cité": té.
"cinq" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cité" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cinq ← ccinq · cinnq · cinqq · ciqn · cniq · icnq
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cinq" for "cité" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cinq" vs "cité" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cinq" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cinq" and "cité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs cité". 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 #437,639 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.