Which to use
“séance” and “sente” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,789
- “séance” frequency rank
- #13,474
- “sente” frequency rank
- 15263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | séance | sente |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Droit de prendre place dans une compagnie. | Petit sentier ou petite voie, souvent non goudronnée, et passant au travers des bois. |
Where the eye mixes séance and sente
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. séance runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against sente's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses séance with sente
A purely visual mix-up. séance (\se.ɑ̃s\) and sente (\sɑ̃t\) 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 15263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
séance is recorded at frequency rank #1,789, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.ɑ̃s\. sente is at rank #13,474, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃t\.
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 15263, this pair ranks #393,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of séance vs sente
Shared letters: ens. Private to "séance": acé. Private to "sente": t.
"séance" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "sente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sente ← esnte · senet · sennte · sentte · setne · snete · ssente
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "séance" for "sente" ever safe?
Which is more common, "séance" or "sente"?
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 "séance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "séance" and "sente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senat vs sente". 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 #393,121 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.