citonsvscréonsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,480
“citons” frequency rank
#34,969
“créons” frequency rank
54449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citons créons
Definition Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe citer. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de créer.

Where the eye mixes citons and créons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. citons (CVCVCC) and créons (CCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
citons
6 ch
créons

Look-alike desk: citons vs créons

A purely visual mix-up. citons (\si.tɔ̃\) and créons (\kʁe.ɔ̃\) 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 54449, 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\. créons is at rank #34,969, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁe.ɔ̃\.

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 54449, this pair ranks #133,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of citons vs créons

Shared letters: cnos. Private to "citons": it. Private to "créons": ré.

"citons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "créons" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citons ← ccitons · ciotns · citnos · citonns · citonss · citosn · cittons · ctions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "citons" and "créons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\si.tɔ̃\ versus \kʁe.ɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "citons" vs "créons" - which ranks higher?
"citons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,480 in our French list, against #34,969 for "créons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "citons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "créons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citons" and "créons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cotons vs créons". 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 #133,988 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