secsvssemésConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,237
“secs” frequency rank
#45,869
“semés” frequency rank
56106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature secs semés
Definition Masculin pluriel de sec. Masculin pluriel de semé.

Where the eye mixes secs and semés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
secs
5 ch
semés

Look-alike desk: secs vs semés

A purely visual mix-up. secs (\sɛk\) and semés (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

secs is recorded at frequency rank #10,237, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛk\. semés is at rank #45,869, 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 56106, this pair ranks #123,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of secs vs semés

Shared letters: es. Private to "secs": c. Private to "semés": .

"secs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • secsescs · sces · seccs · secss · sesc · ssecs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "secs" for "semés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɛk\ versus \sə.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "secs" or "semés"?
"secs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,237 in our French list, against #45,869 for "semés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "secs" and "semés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "secs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "semés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "secs" and "semés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semés vs sémites". 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 #123,223 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