séchévssexeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,835
“séché” frequency rank
#1,496
“sexe” frequency rank
19331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature séché sexe
Definition Qui résulte d’un séchage. Attribut utilisé pour classer un individu dans les espèces biologiques employant un mode de reproduction sexué.

Where the eye mixes séché and sexe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

5 ch
séché
4 ch
sexe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: séché is \se.ʃe\ while sexe is \sɛks\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19331, 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\. sexe is at rank #1,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛks\.

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 19331, this pair ranks #373,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of séché vs sexe

Shared letters: s. Private to "séché": ché. Private to "sexe": ex.

"séché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sexe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sexeesxe · seex · sexxe · ssexe · sxee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "séché" and "sexe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "séché" is an adjective and "sexe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "séché" or "sexe"?
"sexe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,496 in our French list, against #17,835 for "séché". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list