sealvsseauxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,746
“seal” frequency rank
#30,806
“seaux” frequency rank
65552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seal seaux
Definition Sceau. Pluriel de seau.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seal and seaux apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
seal
5 ch
seaux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. seal (\siːl\) and seaux (\so\) 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 65552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seal is recorded at frequency rank #34,746, classified as anoun, pronounced \siːl\. seaux is at rank #30,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced \so\.

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 65552, this pair ranks #71,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seal vs seaux

Shared letters: aes. Private to "seal": l. Private to "seaux": ux.

"seal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "seaux" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sealesal · sael · seall · sela · sseal
  • seauxesaux · saeux · seauxx · seaxu · seuax · sseaux

Frequency comparison

seal#34,746
seaux#30,806

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seal" and "seaux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\siːl\ versus \so\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seal" or "seaux"?
"seaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,806 in our French list, against #34,746 for "seal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seal vs seaux

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 “seal” 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