semble

\sɑ̃bl\

/\sɑ̃bl\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“semble” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #429. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#429
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler.

Corpus desk

Index FR-semble · semble · French

semble · rank #429 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #429
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH Québec

Nearest frequency peer: Québec (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « semble »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « semble » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

semble vs semé
50% similar
semble vs seule
67% similar
semble vs serbe
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for semble
PropertyValue
Headwordsemble
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\sɑ̃bl\
Letters6
Frequency rank#429
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « semble »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).semblese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Québec » (#428), « sujet » (#430), « Pierre » (#427). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « semble » est au #429. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around semble (IPA \sɑ̃bl\), averb. Corpus frequency is #429 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for semble, with forms such as "esmble", "sebmle", and "sembble". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "semé", "seule", "serbe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is semble, spelled S-E-M-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler.
  2. 2
    Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler.
  3. 3
    Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe sembler.
  4. 4
    Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe sembler.
  5. 5
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent du verbe sembler.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how semble appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. De ses ongles, ou griffes, plus exactement du bout des doigts — il me semble bien qu’il en a plus de cinq à chaque main — il dédamasquine, dédore, dévisse, détruit mon avoir, mon tout.
  2. Sa théologie aussi semble tributaire de traditions retardataires : binitarisme, monarchianisme, gématrie du nom d’Adam, étymologie de celui de Moïse.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • esmble
  • sebmle
  • sembble
  • sembel
  • semblle
  • semlbe
  • semmble
  • smeble
  • ssemble

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of semble - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

esmble2sebmle2sembble1sembel2semblle1semlbe2semmble1smeble2
Edit distance from "semble"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "semble"?
"semble" is spelled S-E-M-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sɑ̃bl\.
What does "semble" mean?
As a verb, "semble" means: Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler.
What words are commonly confused with "semble"?
"semble" is commonly confused with "semé", "seule", "serbe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "semble"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "semble" is \sɑ̃bl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "semble" come from?
"semble" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "semble", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Québec#428Pierre#427enfant#433quelle#437

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

musique9 variantsrégion9 variantspermet9 variantssimple9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list