Which to use
“sacrés” and “saines” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,070
- “sacrés” frequency rank
- #16,729
- “saines” frequency rank
- 26799
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sacrés | saines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de sacré. | Féminin pluriel de sain. |
Where the eye mixes sacrés and saines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sacrés (CVCCVC) and saines (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: sacrés vs saines
A purely visual mix-up. sacrés (\sa.kʁe\) and saines (\sɛn\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sacrés is recorded at frequency rank #10,070, classified as anadj, pronounced \sa.kʁe\. saines is at rank #16,729, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛn\.
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 26799, this pair ranks #332,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sacrés vs saines
Shared letters: as. Private to "sacrés": cré. Private to "saines": ein.
"sacrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "saines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- saines ← asines · saiens · sainess · sainnes · sainse · sanies · sianes · ssaines
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sacrés" for "saines" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "sacrés" or "saines" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sacrés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "saines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sacrés" and "saines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saines vs sires". 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 #332,799 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.