semblavssembleTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#36,155
“sembla” frequency rank
#429
“semble” frequency rank
36584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sembla semble
Definition Langue mandée parlée au Burkina Faso. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler.

Letter map: sembla vs semble

Shared letters muted; letters that set sembla and semble apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
sembla
6 ch
semble

Role in the sentence - sembla and semble

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sembla is anoun and sembleaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “sembla” becomes e in “semble”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sembla is recorded at frequency rank #36,155, classified as anoun. semble is at rank #429, 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 36584, this pair ranks #268,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sembla vs semble

Shared letters: belms. Private to "sembla": a. Private to "semble": -.

"sembla" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "semble" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • semblaesmbla · sebmla · sembal · sembbla · semblla · semlba · semmbla · smebla
  • sembleesmble · sebmle · sembble · sembel · semblle · semlbe · semmble · smeble

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sembla" and "semble" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sembla" is a noun and "semble" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sembla" vs "semble" - which ranks higher?
"semble" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #429 in our French list, against #36,155 for "sembla". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "sembla" vs "semble" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sembla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "semble" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sembla" and "semble" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sembla vs simba". 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 #268,566 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