semainesvssémitesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#651
“semaines” frequency rank
#49,381
“sémites” frequency rank
50032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature semaines sémites
Definition Pluriel de semaine. Pluriel de sémite.

Where the eye mixes semaines and sémites

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. semaines runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against sémites's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
semaines
7 ch
sémites

Look-alike desk: semaines vs sémites

A purely visual mix-up. semaines (\sə.mɛn\) and sémites (\se.mit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

semaines is recorded at frequency rank #651, classified as anoun, pronounced \sə.mɛn\. sémites is at rank #49,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.mit\.

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 50032, this pair ranks #165,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of semaines vs sémites

Shared letters: eims. Private to "semaines": an. Private to "sémites": té.

"semaines" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "sémites" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • semaines ← esmaines · seamines · semaiens · semainess · semainnes · semainse · semanies · semianes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "semaines" for "sémites" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sə.mɛn\ versus \se.mit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "semaines" vs "sémites" - which ranks higher?
"semaines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #651 in our French list, against #49,381 for "sémites". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "semaines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sémites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "semaines" and "sémites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semés vs sémites". 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 #165,822 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