séchévsséchéeTell them apart

Quick tell: séché is a adjective, séchée is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“séché” is an adjective and “séchée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,835
“séché” frequency rank
#30,390
“séchée” frequency rank
48225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature séché séchée
Definition Qui résulte d’un séchage. Action de faire sécher.

Same sound, different letters: séché vs séchée

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. séché runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against séchée's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
séché
6 ch
séchée

Homophone desk: séché vs séchée

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: séché and séchée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “séché” sits inside “séchée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

séché is recorded at frequency rank #17,835, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.ʃe\. séchée is at rank #30,390, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ʃe\.

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 48225, this pair ranks #180,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of séché vs séchée

Shared letters: chsé. Private to "séché": -. Private to "séchée": e.

"séché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "séchée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "séché" for "séchée" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "séché" is an adjective and "séchée" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "séché" or "séchée"?
"séché" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,835 in our French list, against #30,390 for "séchée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "séché" / "séchée". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "séché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "séchée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "séché" and "séchée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "séchée vs sèchent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #180,645 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