semblesvssemésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sembles is a verb, semés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sembles” is a verb and “semés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,004
“sembles” frequency rank
#45,869
“semés” frequency rank
62873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sembles semés
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de sembler. Masculin pluriel de semé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sembles and semés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
sembles
5 ch
semés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sembles is \sɑ̃bl\ while semés is \sə.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62873, 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\. semés is at rank #45,869, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sə.me\.

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 62873, this pair ranks #84,805 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sembles vs semés

Shared letters: ems. Private to "sembles": bl. Private to "semés": é.

"sembles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • semblesesmbles · sebmles · sembbles · sembels · sembless · semblles · semblse · semlbes

Frequency comparison

sembles#17,004
semés#45,869

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sembles" and "semés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sembles" is a verb and "semés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sembles" or "semés"?
"sembles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,004 in our French list, against #45,869 for "semés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sembles vs semés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “sembles”; for an adjective, it's “semés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sembles” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list