séchévsseméeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,835
“séché” frequency rank
#47,039
“semée” frequency rank
64874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature séché semée
Definition Qui résulte d’un séchage. Féminin singulier de semé.

Where the eye mixes séché and semée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. séché (CVCCV) and semée (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
séché
5 ch
semée

Visual trap between séché and semée

A purely visual mix-up. séché (\se.ʃe\) and semée (\sə.me\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64874, 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\. semée is at rank #47,039, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sə.me\.

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 64874, this pair ranks #74,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of séché vs semée

Shared letters: sé. Private to "séché": ch. Private to "semée": em.

"séché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "semée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "séché" and "semée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\se.ʃe\ versus \sə.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "séché" vs "semée" - which ranks higher?
"séché" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,835 in our French list, against #47,039 for "semée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "séché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "semée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "séché" and "semée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semée vs semés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,953 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