Which to use
“sembler” and “sembles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,577
- “sembler” frequency rank
- #17,004
- “sembles” frequency rank
- 27581
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sembler | sembles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Paraître avoir une certaine qualité ou une certaine manière d’être ; avoir l’air, l’apparence. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de sembler. |
Where the eye mixes sembler and sembles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sembler with sembles
A purely visual mix-up. sembler (\sɑ̃.ble\) and sembles (\sɑ̃bl\) 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 a single letter - r in “sembler” becomes s in “sembles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sembler is recorded at frequency rank #10,577, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.ble\. 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 27581, this pair ranks #328,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sembler vs sembles
Shared letters: belms. Private to "sembler": r. Private to "sembles": -.
"sembler" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "sembles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sembler" and "sembles" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sembler" vs "sembles" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sembler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sembles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #328,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sembler" and "sembles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sembles vs sépales". 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 #328,061 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.