Which to use
“citons” is a verb and “colons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,480
- “citons” frequency rank
- #8,675
- “colons” frequency rank
- 28155
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | citons | colons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. | Pluriel de colon. |
Where the eye mixes citons and colons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between citons and colons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: citons is \si.tɔ̃\ while colons is \kɔ.lɔ̃\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
citons is recorded at frequency rank #19,480, classified as averb, pronounced \si.tɔ̃\. colons is at rank #8,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɔ̃\.
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 28155, this pair ranks #324,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of citons vs colons
Shared letters: cnos. Private to "citons": it. Private to "colons": l.
"citons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "colons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "citons" for "colons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "citons" or "colons" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "citons" and "colons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "citons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "citons" and "colons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "citons vs cotons". 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 #324,567 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.