semésvsshoesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,869
“semés” frequency rank
#27,623
“shoes” frequency rank
73492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature semés shoes
Definition Masculin pluriel de semé. Pluriel de shoe.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
semés
5 ch
shoes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: semés is \sə.me\ while shoes is \ˈʃuz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 73492, 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\. shoes is at rank #27,623, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈʃuz\.

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 73492, this pair ranks #40,295 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of semés vs shoes

Shared letters: es. Private to "semés": . Private to "shoes": ho.

"semés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "shoes" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shoeshsoes · sheos · shhoes · shoess · shose · sohes · sshoes

Frequency comparison

semés#45,869
shoes#27,623

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "semés" and "shoes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "semés" is an adjective and "shoes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "semés" or "shoes"?
"shoes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,623 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 shoes

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 “shoes”.
  • 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