Which to use
“cites” is a verb and “cities” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,100
- “cites” frequency rank
- #34,467
- “cities” frequency rank
- 62567
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cites | cities |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. | Pluriel de city. |
Where the eye mixes cites and cities
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cites with cities
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cites is \sit\ while cities is \ˈsɪt.iz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cites is recorded at frequency rank #28,100, classified as averb, pronounced \sit\. cities is at rank #34,467, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪt.iz\.
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 62567, this pair ranks #86,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cites vs cities
Shared letters: ceist. Private to "cites": -. Private to "cities": -.
"cites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cities" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cites" and "cities" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cites" vs "cities" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cites" and "cities" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cities" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cites" and "cities" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cities vs citizens". 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 #86,426 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.