sachesvssectesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,058
“saches” frequency rank
#20,570
“sectes” frequency rank
38628
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saches sectes
Definition Pluriel de sache. Pluriel de secte.

Where the eye mixes saches and sectes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
saches
6 ch
sectes

Visual trap between saches and sectes

A purely visual mix-up. saches (\saʃ\) and sectes (\sɛkt\) 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 38628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saches is recorded at frequency rank #18,058, classified as anoun, pronounced \saʃ\. sectes is at rank #20,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛkt\.

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 38628, this pair ranks #253,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of saches vs sectes

Shared letters: ces. Private to "saches": ah. Private to "sectes": t.

"saches" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sectes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sachesasches · sacches · sacehs · sachess · sachhes · sachse · sahces · scahes
  • sectesesctes · scetes · secctes · secets · sectess · sectse · secttes · setces

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "saches" for "sectes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\saʃ\ versus \sɛkt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "saches" vs "sectes" - which ranks higher?
"saches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,058 in our French list, against #20,570 for "sectes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "saches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sectes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saches" and "sectes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sectes vs socles". 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 #253,946 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