Which to use
“scale” is a verb and “scellé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,661
- “scale” frequency rank
- #17,002
- “scellé” frequency rank
- 60663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scale | scellé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de scaler. | Deux cachets de cire reliés par un ruban que l’on appose à des serrures, à des armoires, etc., par autorité de justice, pour empêcher de les ouvrir. |
Where the eye mixes scale and scellé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between scale and scellé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scale is \skal\ while scellé is \se.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scale is recorded at frequency rank #43,661, classified as averb, pronounced \skal\. scellé is at rank #17,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.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 60663, this pair ranks #96,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of scale vs scellé
Shared letters: cels. Private to "scale": a. Private to "scellé": é.
"scale" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "scellé" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- scale ← csale · sacle · scael · scalle · sccale · sclae · sscale
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "scale" for "scellé" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "scale" or "scellé" 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 "scale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "scellé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scale" and "scellé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scale vs stase". 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 #96,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.