séchévssécherTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#17,835
“séché” frequency rank
#10,592
“sécher” frequency rank
28427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature séché sécher
Definition Qui résulte d’un séchage. Rendre sec.

Same sound, different letters: séché vs sécher

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
séché
6 ch
sécher

Same sound, different spelling - séché / sécher

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: séché and sécher carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28427, 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\. sécher is at rank #10,592, tagged as averb, 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 28427, this pair ranks #322,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of séché vs sécher

Shared letters: chsé. Private to "séché": -. Private to "sécher": er.

"séché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sécher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "séché" for "sécher" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "séché" is an adjective and "sécher" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "séché" or "sécher" show up more?
"sécher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,592 in our French list, against #17,835 for "séché". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "séché" / "sécher". 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 "sécher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #322,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "séché" and "sécher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "séché vs sèchent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #322,894 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