Which to use
“semés” is an adjective and “sexes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,869
- “semés” frequency rank
- #8,619
- “sexes” frequency rank
- 54488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | semés | sexes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de semé. | Pluriel de sexe. |
Where the eye mixes semés and sexes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. semés and sexes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses semés with sexes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: semés is \sə.me\ while sexes is \sɛks\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54488, 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\. sexes is at rank #8,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛks\.
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 54488, this pair ranks #133,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of semés vs sexes
Shared letters: es. Private to "semés": mé. Private to "sexes": x.
"semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "sexes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sexes ← esxes · seexs · sexess · sexse · sexxes · ssexes · sxees
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "semés" and "sexes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "semés" or "sexes"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "semés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sexes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #133,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "semés" and "sexes" 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 #133,684 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.