Which to use
“secouer” is a verb and “séjour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,361
- “secouer” frequency rank
- #2,647
- “séjour” frequency rank
- 17008
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | secouer | séjour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Remuer quelque chose fortement et à plusieurs reprises. | Demeure, résidence plus ou moins longue dans un lieu, dans un pays. |
Where the eye mixes secouer and séjour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. secouer runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against séjour's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses secouer with séjour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: secouer is \sə.kwe\ while séjour is \se.ʒuʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
secouer is recorded at frequency rank #14,361, classified as averb, pronounced \sə.kwe\. séjour is at rank #2,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ʒuʁ\.
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 17008, this pair ranks #385,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of secouer vs séjour
Shared letters: orsu. Private to "secouer": ce. Private to "séjour": jé.
"secouer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC · "séjour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- secouer ← escouer · sceouer · seccouer · secoeur · secouerr · secoure · secuoer · seocuer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "secouer" and "séjour" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "secouer" or "séjour"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "secouer" and "séjour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "secouer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "séjour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "secouer" and "séjour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "secouent vs secouer". 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 #385,236 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.