Which to use
“semelle” and “semelles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,572
- “semelle” frequency rank
- #25,808
- “semelles” frequency rank
- 46380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | semelle | semelles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de cuir, de caoutchouc, qui fait le dessous d’une chaussure, d’une botte, d’une pantoufle. | Pluriel de semelle. |
Same sound, different letters: semelle vs semelles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. semelle runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against semelles's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - semelle and semelles
This is the hard kind. semelle and semelles are pronounced identically (\sə.mɛl\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “semelle” sits inside “semelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
semelle is recorded at frequency rank #20,572, classified as anoun, pronounced \sə.mɛl\. semelles is at rank #25,808, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sə.mɛl\.
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 46380, this pair ranks #195,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of semelle vs semelles
Shared letters: elms. Private to "semelle": -. Private to "semelles": -.
"semelle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "semelles" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "semelle" for "semelles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "semelle" vs "semelles" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "semelle" / "semelles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "semelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "semelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "semelle" and "semelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semée vs semelle". 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 #195,421 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.