semervssemésWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#12,864
“semer” frequency rank
#45,869
“semés” frequency rank
58733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature semer semés
Definition Répandre de la graine ou du grain sur une terre préparée, afin de les faire produire et multiplier. Masculin pluriel de semé.

Same sound, different letters: semer vs semés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. semer and semés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
semer
5 ch
semés

Homophone desk: semer vs semés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: semer and semés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sə.me\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

semer is recorded at frequency rank #12,864, classified as averb, pronounced \sə.me\. 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 58733, this pair ranks #107,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of semer vs semés

Shared letters: ems. Private to "semer": r. Private to "semés": é.

"semer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • semer ← esmer · seemr · semerr · semmer · semre · smeer · ssemer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "semer" and "semés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "semer" is a verb and "semés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "semer" vs "semés" - which ranks higher?
"semer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,864 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.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "semer" / "semés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "semer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "semés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "semer" and "semés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "semés vs sémites". 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 #107,257 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