Which to use
“sel” is a noun and “seuls” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,293
- “sel” frequency rank
- #1,171
- “seuls” frequency rank
- 4464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sel | seuls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom courant du chlorure de sodium, composé ionique, friable, soluble dans l’eau, que l’on extrait de la mer, de sources salées, de mines, et dont on se sert surtout pour assaisonner et conserver les aliments. | Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif seul. |
Where the eye mixes sel and seuls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sel and seuls
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sel is \sɛl\ while seuls is \sœl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sel is recorded at frequency rank #3,293, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛl\. seuls is at rank #1,171, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sœl\.
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 4464, this pair ranks #431,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sel vs seuls
Shared letters: els. Private to "sel": -. Private to "seuls": u.
"sel" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "seuls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- seuls ← esuls · selus · seulls · seulss · seusl · sseuls · suels
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sel" for "seuls" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sel" vs "seuls" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sel" and "seuls" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seuls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sel" and "seuls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sel vs suu". 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 #431,547 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.