sacrésvssalésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,070
“sacrés” frequency rank
#25,492
“salés” frequency rank
35562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacrés salés
Definition Masculin pluriel de sacré. Masculin pluriel de salé.

Where the eye mixes sacrés and salés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sacrés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against salés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sacrés
5 ch
salés

Look-alike desk: sacrés vs salés

A purely visual mix-up. sacrés (\sa.kʁe\) and salés (\sa.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35562, 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\. salés is at rank #25,492, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sa.le\.

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 35562, this pair ranks #275,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacrés vs salés

Shared letters: asé. Private to "sacrés": cr. Private to "salés": l.

"sacrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "salés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacrés" and "salés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sa.kʁe\ versus \sa.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sacrés" vs "salés" - which ranks higher?
"sacrés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,070 in our French list, against #25,492 for "salés". 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 "sacrés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "salés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #275,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacrés" and "salés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "salés vs sépales". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #275,822 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