Which to use
“sèment” and “semer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,175
- “sèment” frequency rank
- #12,864
- “semer” frequency rank
- 49039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sèment | semer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de semer. | Répandre de la graine ou du grain sur une terre préparée, afin de les faire produire et multiplier. |
Where the eye mixes sèment and semer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sèment runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against semer's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sèment vs semer
A purely visual mix-up. sèment (\sɛm\) and semer (\sə.me\) 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 49039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sèment is recorded at frequency rank #36,175, classified as averb, pronounced \sɛm\. semer is at rank #12,864, tagged as averb, 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 49039, this pair ranks #173,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sèment vs semer
Shared letters: ems. Private to "sèment": ntè. Private to "semer": r.
"sèment" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "semer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- semer ← esmer · seemr · semerr · semmer · semre · smeer · ssemer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sèment" and "semer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sèment" or "semer" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sèment" and "semer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sèment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "semer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sèment" and "semer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sèment vs sucent". 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 #173,948 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.