seméevssenséeTell them apart

Which to use

“semée” and “sensée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,039
“semée” frequency rank
#21,769
“sensée” frequency rank
68808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature semée sensée
Definition Féminin singulier de semé. Féminin singulier de sensé.

Where the eye mixes semée and sensée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. semée runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against sensée's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
semée
6 ch
sensée

Why the eye confuses semée with sensée

A purely visual mix-up. semée (\sə.me\) and sensée (\sɑ̃.se\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

semée is recorded at frequency rank #47,039, classified as anadj, pronounced \sə.me\. sensée is at rank #21,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\.

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 68808, this pair ranks #57,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of semée vs sensée

Shared letters: esé. Private to "semée": m. Private to "sensée": n.

"semée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "sensée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "semée" and "sensée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sə.me\ versus \sɑ̃.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "semée" or "sensée"?
"sensée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,769 in our French list, against #47,039 for "semée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "semée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sensée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "semée" and "sensée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semée vs semés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,603 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