scellévsshellWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,002
“scellé” frequency rank
#18,066
“shell” frequency rank
35068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scellé shell
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. Interface utilisateur d’un système d’exploitation, principalement destinée à lancer d’autres programmes et gérer leurs interactions. Le terme est généralement utilisé pour parler d’une interface en ligne de commande. La norme ISO/IEC 2382-28:1995 donne les traductions « coquille » et « système essentiel ».

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set scellé and shell apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
scellé
5 ch
shell

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. scellé (\se.le\) and shell (\ʃɛl\) 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 35068, 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\. shell is at rank #18,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛl\.

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 35068, this pair ranks #279,435 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scellé vs shell

Shared letters: els. Private to "scellé": . Private to "shell": h.

"scellé" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "shell" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shellhsell · sehll · shel · shhell · shlel · sshell

Frequency comparison

scellé#17,002
shell#18,066

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "scellé" and "shell" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\se.le\ versus \ʃɛl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "scellé" or "shell"?
"scellé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,002 in our French list, against #18,066 for "shell". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering scellé vs shell

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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