citationsvscréationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“citations” and “créations” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,287
“citations” frequency rank
#6,387
“créations” frequency rank
13674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citations créations
Definition Pluriel de citation. Pluriel de création.

Where the eye mixes citations and créations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. citations (CVCVCVVCC) and créations (CCVVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
citations
9 ch
créations

Look-alike desk: citations vs créations

A purely visual mix-up. citations (\si.ta.sjɔ̃\) and créations (\kʁe.a.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citations is recorded at frequency rank #7,287, classified as anoun, pronounced \si.ta.sjɔ̃\. créations is at rank #6,387, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁe.a.sjɔ̃\.

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 13674, this pair ranks #400,018 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of citations vs créations

Shared letters: acinost. Private to "citations": -. Private to "créations": ré.

"citations" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC  ·  "créations" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citations ← ccitations · ciattions · citaitons · citatinos · citationns · citationss · citatiosn · citatoins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "citations" for "créations" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\si.ta.sjɔ̃\ versus \kʁe.a.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "citations" or "créations"?
"créations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,387 in our French list, against #7,287 for "citations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "citations" and "créations" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "citations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "créations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,018 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citations" and "créations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "créations vs crémation". 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 #400,018 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list