scellévsscelléeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: scellé is a noun, scellée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“scellé” is a noun and “scellée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,002
“scellé” frequency rank
#32,589
“scellée” frequency rank
49591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scellé scellée
Definition 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. Féminin singulier de scellé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set scellé and scellée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
scellé
7 ch
scellée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: scellé and scellée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “scellé” sits inside “scellée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scellé is recorded at frequency rank #17,002, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.le\. scellée is at rank #32,589, tagged as anadj, 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 49591, this pair ranks #169,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scellé vs scellée

Shared letters: celsé. Private to "scellé": -. Private to "scellée": -.

"scellé" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "scellée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV

Frequency comparison

scellé#17,002
scellée#32,589

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "scellé" and "scellée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "scellé" is a noun and "scellée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "scellé" or "scellée"?
"scellé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,002 in our French list, against #32,589 for "scellée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering scellé vs scellée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “scellé”; for an adjective, it's “scellée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “scellé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list