Which to use
“citerne” and “citernes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,798
- “citerne” frequency rank
- #27,371
- “citernes” frequency rank
- 50169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | citerne | citernes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Réservoir souterrain ou non, destiné à recevoir et garder l’eau pluviale. | Pluriel de citerne. |
Same sound, different letters: citerne vs citernes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. citerne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against citernes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - citerne and citernes
This is the hard kind. citerne and citernes are pronounced identically (\si.tɛʁn\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “citerne” sits inside “citernes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
citerne is recorded at frequency rank #22,798, classified as anoun, pronounced \si.tɛʁn\. citernes is at rank #27,371, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.tɛʁn\.
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 50169, this pair ranks #164,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of citerne vs citernes
Shared letters: ceinrt. Private to "citerne": -. Private to "citernes": s.
"citerne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "citernes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "citerne" and "citernes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "citerne" or "citernes"?
What to do next
"citerne" and "citernes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "citerne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "citernes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "citerne" and "citernes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cierges vs citernes". 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 #164,749 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.