Which to use
“citées” and “cites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,541
- “citées” frequency rank
- #28,100
- “cites” frequency rank
- 41641
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | citées | cites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe citer. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. |
Where the eye mixes citées and cites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. citées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against cites's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between citées and cites
A purely visual mix-up. citées (\si.te\) and cites (\sit\) 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 41641, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
citées is recorded at frequency rank #13,541, classified as averb, pronounced \si.te\. cites is at rank #28,100, tagged as averb, pronounced \sit\.
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 41641, this pair ranks #231,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of citées vs cites
Shared letters: ceist. Private to "citées": é. Private to "cites": -.
"citées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "cites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cites ← ccites · ciets · citess · citse · cittes · cties · ictes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "citées" and "cites" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "citées" vs "cites" - which ranks higher?
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 "citées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "citées" and "cites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs cites". 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 #231,590 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.