seizièmevsseptièmeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,571
“seizième” frequency rank
#5,188
“septième” frequency rank
25759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seizième septième
Definition Qui vient après le quinzième. Qui concerne l’ordinal ou la fraction septième.

Where the eye mixes seizième and septième

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. seizième (CVVCVVCV) and septième (CVCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
seizième
8 ch
septième

Why the eye confuses seizième with septième

A purely visual mix-up. seizième (\sɛ.zjɛm\) and septième (\sɛ.tjɛm\) 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 25759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seizième is recorded at frequency rank #20,571, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛ.zjɛm\. septième is at rank #5,188, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛ.tjɛm\.

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 25759, this pair ranks #339,004 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seizième vs septième

Shared letters: eimsè. Private to "seizième": z. Private to "septième": pt.

"seizième" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCV  ·  "septième" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seizième" and "septième" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɛ.zjɛm\ versus \sɛ.tjɛm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seizième" or "septième"?
"septième" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,188 in our French list, against #20,571 for "seizième". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "seizième" and "septième" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seizième" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "septième" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #339,004 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seizième" and "septième" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "septicémie vs septième". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #339,004 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list