Which to use
“semelle” is a noun and “sexuelle” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,572
- “semelle” frequency rank
- #3,223
- “sexuelle” frequency rank
- 23795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | semelle | sexuelle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de cuir, de caoutchouc, qui fait le dessous d’une chaussure, d’une botte, d’une pantoufle. | Féminin singulier de sexuel. |
Where the eye mixes semelle and sexuelle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. semelle runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against sexuelle's 8 (CVCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: semelle vs sexuelle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: semelle is \sə.mɛl\ while sexuelle is \sɛk.sɥɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23795, 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\. sexuelle is at rank #3,223, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛk.sɥɛl\.
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 23795, this pair ranks #350,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of semelle vs sexuelle
Shared letters: els. Private to "semelle": m. Private to "sexuelle": ux.
"semelle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "sexuelle" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "semelle" and "sexuelle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "semelle" or "sexuelle" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "semelle" and "sexuelle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "semelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sexuelle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "semelle" and "sexuelle" 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 #350,416 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.