sellesvssemblesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: selles is a noun, sembles is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“selles” is a noun and “sembles” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,466
“selles” frequency rank
#17,004
“sembles” frequency rank
38470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature selles sembles
Definition Excréments humains, formés des résidus de la digestion. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de sembler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set selles and sembles apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
selles
7 ch
sembles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: selles is \sɛl\ while sembles is \sɑ̃bl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

selles is recorded at frequency rank #21,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛl\. sembles is at rank #17,004, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃bl\.

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 38470, this pair ranks #255,047 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of selles vs sembles

Shared letters: els. Private to "selles": -. Private to "sembles": bm.

"selles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sembles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • selleseslles · selels · seles · selless · sellse · sleles · sselles
  • semblesesmbles · sebmles · sembbles · sembels · sembless · semblles · semblse · semlbes

Frequency comparison

selles#21,466
sembles#17,004

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "selles" and "sembles" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "selles" is a noun and "sembles" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "selles" or "sembles"?
"sembles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,004 in our French list, against #21,466 for "selles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering selles vs sembles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “selles”; for a verb, it's “sembles”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “selles” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list