semésvssentesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: semés is a adjective, sentes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#45,869
“semés” frequency rank
#42,044
“sentes” frequency rank
87913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature semés sentes
Definition Masculin pluriel de semé. Pluriel de sente.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set semés and sentes apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
semés
6 ch
sentes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: semés is \sə.me\ while sentes is \sɑ̃t\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

semés is recorded at frequency rank #45,869, classified as anadj, pronounced \sə.me\. sentes is at rank #42,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃t\.

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 87913, this pair ranks #7,651 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of semés vs sentes

Shared letters: es. Private to "semés": . Private to "sentes": nt.

"semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sentesesntes · senets · senntes · sentess · sentse · senttes · setnes · snetes

Frequency comparison

semés#45,869
sentes#42,044

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "semés" and "sentes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "semés" is an adjective and "sentes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "semés" or "sentes"?
"sentes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,044 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.

Remembering semés vs sentes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “semés”; for a noun, it's “sentes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “semés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list