sectionvsséditionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,574
“section” frequency rank
#42,073
“sédition” frequency rank
43647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature section sédition
Definition Action de couper, de diviser ou résultat de cette action. Émeute populaire, révolte, soulèvement contre la puissance établie.

Where the eye mixes section and sédition

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
section
8 ch
sédition

Why the eye confuses section with sédition

A purely visual mix-up. section (\sɛk.sjɔ̃\) and sédition (\se.di.sjɔ̃\) 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 43647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

section is recorded at frequency rank #1,574, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛk.sjɔ̃\. sédition is at rank #42,073, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.di.sjɔ̃\.

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 43647, this pair ranks #216,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of section vs sédition

Shared letters: inost. Private to "section": ce. Private to "sédition": .

"section" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "sédition" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sectionesction · scetion · secction · seciton · sectino · sectionn · sectoin · secttion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "section" and "sédition" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɛk.sjɔ̃\ versus \se.di.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "section" or "sédition"?
"section" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,574 in our French list, against #42,073 for "sédition". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "section" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sédition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "section" and "sédition" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sédation vs sédition". 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 #216,458 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