clé vs cy, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“clé” is a noun and “cy” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,987
“clé” frequency rank: #27,395
“cy” frequency rank: 29382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	clé	cy
Definition	Instrument de métal que l’on introduit dans une serrure pour ouvrir ou fermer un accès. Ancienne clé à panneton que l'on place et fait tourner dans la serrure d'une porte, d'un coffre, etc.	Ci.

Letter map: clé vs cy

Shared letters muted; letters that set clé and cy apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. clé runs 3 letters (CCV) against cy's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

clé

2 ch

Grammar separator: clé vs cy

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clé is anoun and cyanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clé is recorded at frequency rank #1,987, classified as anoun, pronounced \kle\. cy is at rank #27,395, tagged as anadv.

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 29382, this pair ranks #317,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of clé vs cy

Shared letters: c. Private to "clé": lé. Private to "cy": y.

"clé" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "cy" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clé" and "cy" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clé" is a noun and "cy" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "clé" or "cy"?

"clé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,987 in our French list, against #27,395 for "cy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clé" and "cy".

Full dictionary entry for "clé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "cy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #317,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"clé" and "cy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #317,036 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.