seingvssingeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,041
“seing” frequency rank
#7,628
“singe” frequency rank
45669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seing singe
Definition Nom de quelqu’un écrit par lui-même au bas d’une lettre, d’un acte, pour le certifier, pour le confirmer, pour le rendre valable. Mammifère de l’ordre des Primates, hors l’Homme, hors le lémurien.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set seing and singe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
seing
5 ch
singe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. seing (\sɛ̃\) and singe (\sɛ̃ʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seing is recorded at frequency rank #38,041, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃\. singe is at rank #7,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃ʒ\.

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 45669, this pair ranks #200,968 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seing vs singe

Shared letters: egins. Private to "seing": -. Private to "singe": -.

"seing" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "singe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seingesing · seign · seingg · seinng · senig · sieng · sseing
  • singeisnge · sineg · singge · sinnge · snige · ssinge

Frequency comparison

seing#38,041
singe#7,628

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seing" and "singe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɛ̃\ versus \sɛ̃ʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seing" or "singe"?
"singe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,628 in our French list, against #38,041 for "seing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering seing vs singe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “seing” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list