Which to use
“scellé” and “seule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,002
- “scellé” frequency rank
- #323
- “seule” frequency rank
- 17325
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scellé | seule |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Fond d’un navire. |
Where the eye mixes scellé and seule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses scellé with seule
A purely visual mix-up. scellé (\se.le\) and seule (\sœl\) 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 17325, 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\. seule is at rank #323, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sœl\.
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 17325, this pair ranks #383,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of scellé vs seule
Shared letters: els. Private to "scellé": cé. Private to "seule": u.
"scellé" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "seule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- seule ← esule · selue · seuel · seulle · sseule · suele
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scellé" and "seule" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "scellé" or "seule" 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 "scellé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scellé" and "seule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scellé vs scellées". 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 #383,729 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.