schismevssexismeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,963
“schisme” frequency rank
#14,797
“sexisme” frequency rank
42760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schisme sexisme
Definition Division au sein d’une Église donnant naissance à une nouvelle Église. Attitude, acte ou parole discriminatoire, fondé sur des stéréotypes ou des préjugés liés au sexe ou au genre, visant à maintenir ou justifier une hiérarchie entre les individus.

Where the eye mixes schisme and sexisme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. schisme (CCCVCCV) and sexisme (CVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
schisme
7 ch
sexisme

Visual trap between schisme and sexisme

A purely visual mix-up. schisme (\ʃism\) and sexisme (\sɛk.sism\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schisme is recorded at frequency rank #27,963, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃism\. sexisme is at rank #14,797, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛk.sism\.

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 42760, this pair ranks #223,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schisme vs sexisme

Shared letters: eims. Private to "schisme": ch. Private to "sexisme": x.

"schisme" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV  ·  "sexisme" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schismecshisme · scchisme · schhisme · schimse · schisem · schismme · schissme · schsime
  • sexismeesxisme · seixsme · seximse · sexisem · sexismme · sexissme · sexsime · sexxisme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schisme" for "sexisme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʃism\ versus \sɛk.sism\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "schisme" vs "sexisme" - which ranks higher?
"sexisme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,797 in our French list, against #27,963 for "schisme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sexisme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schisme" and "sexisme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sadisme vs schisme". 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 #223,147 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