Which to use
“semble” and “sembler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #429
- “semble” frequency rank
- #10,577
- “sembler” frequency rank
- 11006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | semble | sembler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe sembler. | Paraître avoir une certaine qualité ou une certaine manière d’être ; avoir l’air, l’apparence. |
Where the eye mixes semble and sembler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between semble and sembler
A purely visual mix-up. semble (\sɑ̃bl\) and sembler (\sɑ̃.ble\) 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 extra letter(s) - “semble” sits inside “sembler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
semble is recorded at frequency rank #429, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃bl\. sembler is at rank #10,577, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.ble\.
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 11006, this pair ranks #410,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of semble vs sembler
Shared letters: belms. Private to "semble": -. Private to "sembler": r.
"semble" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "sembler" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "semble" and "sembler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "semble" or "sembler" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "semble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sembler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "semble" and "sembler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sembler vs semblera". 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 #410,826 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.