Which to use
“seize” and “serré” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,659
- “seize” frequency rank
- #6,555
- “serré” frequency rank
- 13214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seize | serré |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Très ajusté, étreint, pressé. |
Where the eye mixes seize and serré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. seize (CVVCV) and serré (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between seize and serré
A purely visual mix-up. seize (\sɛz\) and serré (\se.ʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13214, 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\. serré is at rank #6,555, tagged as anadj, pronounced \se.ʁe\.
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 13214, this pair ranks #401,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of seize vs serré
Shared letters: es. Private to "seize": iz. Private to "serré": ré.
"seize" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "serré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- seize ← esize · seiez · seizze · sezie · sieze · sseize
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "seize" and "serré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "seize" or "serré" show up more?
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 "seize" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "serré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seize" and "serré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seize vs semée". 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 #401,951 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.