Which to use
“seille” and “semelle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,308
- “seille” frequency rank
- #20,572
- “semelle” frequency rank
- 65880
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seille | semelle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bassine, munie d’oreilles dans lesquelles on passe une corde en guise d’anse et qui sert à transporter les liquides, en particulier, le mout tiré du pressoir. | Pièce de cuir, de caoutchouc, qui fait le dessous d’une chaussure, d’une botte, d’une pantoufle. |
Where the eye mixes seille and semelle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. seille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against semelle's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between seille and semelle
A purely visual mix-up. seille (\sɛj\) and semelle (\sə.mɛl\) 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 65880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seille is recorded at frequency rank #45,308, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛj\. semelle is at rank #20,572, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sə.mɛl\.
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 65880, this pair ranks #70,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of seille vs semelle
Shared letters: els. Private to "seille": i. Private to "semelle": m.
"seille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "semelle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seille" for "semelle" ever safe?
Frequency check: "seille" vs "semelle" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "seille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "semelle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seille" and "semelle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seille vs skill". 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 #70,368 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.