Français homophones

cil/cils/seal/seals/sil/silent

"cil" is a noun; "seals" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #20 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "cil" arrives as a noun, while "seals" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "cil" then splits - "cil" (3 letters) vs "cils" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "cil" is 3 letters, "seal" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cil" is 3 letters, "seals" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cil" is 3 letters, "sil" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cil" is 3 letters, "silent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cils" is 4 letters, "seal" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cils" is 4 letters, "seals" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cils" is 4 letters, "sil" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cils" is 4 letters, "silent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "seal" then splits - "seal" (4 letters) vs "seals" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "seal" is 4 letters, "sil" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "seal" is 4 letters, "silent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "seals" is 5 letters, "sil" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "seals" is 5 letters, "silent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "sil" then splits - "sil" (3 letters) vs "silent" (6).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across cil, cils, seal, seals, sil, silent: l. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

cil
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory cil · private ci
cils
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory cils · private cis
seal
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory aels · private aes
seals
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory aels · private aes
sil
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ils · private is
silent
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVCC
Inventory eilnst · private einst

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "cil" when you mean: Poil des paupières.
Write "cils" when you mean: Pluriel de cil.
Write "seal" when you mean: Sceau.
Write "seals" when you mean: Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe to seal.
Write "sil" when you mean: Argile, variété d’ocre, dont les Anciens faisaient des poteries rouges ou jaunes.
Write "silent" when you mean: Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe siler.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

cils ← ccils · cills · cilss · cisl · clis · icls
seal ← esal · sael · seall · sela · sseal
seals ← esals · saels · sealls · sealss · seasl · selas
silent ← islent · sielnt · silennt · silentt · siletn · sillent

Each spelling

cil

noun · /\sil\/ · #33,611 frequency

Poil des paupières.

cils

noun · /\sil\/ · #15,107 frequency

Pluriel de cil.

seal

noun · /\siːl\/ · #34,746 frequency

Sceau.

seals

verb · /\siːl\/ · #48,199 frequency

Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe to seal.

sil

noun · /\sil\/ · #20,575 frequency

Argile, variété d’ocre, dont les Anciens faisaient des poteries rouges ou jaunes.

silent

verb · /\sil\/ · #29,148 frequency

Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe siler.