Which to use
“séisme” is a noun and “sensée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,140
- “séisme” frequency rank
- #21,769
- “sensée” frequency rank
- 32909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | séisme | sensée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suite de secousses qui affecte, avec plus ou moins de force, la surface de la terre ou les fonds marins, et qui résulte de la propagation d'ondes provenant notamment du mouvement en profondeur des plaques de l'écorce terrestre. | Féminin singulier de sensé. |
Where the eye mixes séisme and sensée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. séisme (CVVCCV) and sensée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: séisme vs sensée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: séisme is \se.ism\ while sensée is \sɑ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
séisme is recorded at frequency rank #11,140, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.ism\. sensée is at rank #21,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\.
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 32909, this pair ranks #294,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of séisme vs sensée
Shared letters: esé. Private to "séisme": im. Private to "sensée": n.
"séisme" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "sensée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "séisme" for "sensée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "séisme" vs "sensée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "séisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sensée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "séisme" and "sensée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semée vs sensée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #294,148 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.