Which to use
“sembles” and “semblez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,004
- “sembles” frequency rank
- #24,028
- “semblez” frequency rank
- 41032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sembles | semblez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de sembler. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de sembler. |
Where the eye mixes sembles and semblez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. sembles and semblez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses sembles with semblez
A purely visual mix-up. sembles (\sɑ̃bl\) and semblez (\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 a single letter - s in “sembles” becomes z in “semblez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sembles is recorded at frequency rank #17,004, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃bl\. semblez is at rank #24,028, 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 41032, this pair ranks #236,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sembles vs semblez
Shared letters: belms. Private to "sembles": -. Private to "semblez": z.
"sembles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "semblez" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sembles" for "semblez" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sembles" or "semblez"?
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 "sembles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "semblez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sembles" and "semblez" 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 #236,073 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.