seizevsseméeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,659
“seize” frequency rank
#47,039
“semée” frequency rank
53698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seize semée
Definition Le nombre cardinal situé après quinze en y ajoutant un, et avant dix-sept, représenté 16 en chiffres arabes, et XVI en chiffres romains. Féminin singulier de semé.

Where the eye mixes seize and semée

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

5 ch
seize
5 ch
semée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. seize (\sɛz\) and semée (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seize is recorded at frequency rank #6,659, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛz\. semée is at rank #47,039, 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 53698, this pair ranks #139,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seize vs semée

Shared letters: es. Private to "seize": iz. Private to "semée": .

"seize" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "semée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seizeesize · seiez · seizze · sezie · sieze · sseize

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seize" and "semée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɛz\ versus \sə.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seize" or "semée"?
"seize" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,659 in our French list, against #47,039 for "semée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list