Which to use
“sentimental” and “sentimentaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,594
- “sentimental” frequency rank
- #45,310
- “sentimentaux” frequency rank
- 63904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sentimental | sentimentaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Où il y a du sentiment ; qui annonce du sentiment ; qui tient du sentiment. | Masculin pluriel de sentimental. |
Where the eye mixes sentimental and sentimentaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. sentimental runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVCCVC) against sentimentaux's 12 (CVCCVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sentimental and sentimentaux
A purely visual mix-up. sentimental (\sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃.tal\) and sentimentaux (\sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃.to\) 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 63904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sentimental is recorded at frequency rank #18,594, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃.tal\. sentimentaux is at rank #45,310, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃.to\.
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 63904, this pair ranks #79,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sentimental vs sentimentaux
Shared letters: aeimnst. Private to "sentimental": l. Private to "sentimentaux": ux.
"sentimental" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC · "sentimentaux" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sentimental ← esntimental · senitmental · senntimental · sentiemntal · sentimenatl · sentimenntal · sentimentall · sentimentla
- sentimentaux ← esntimentaux · senitmentaux · senntimentaux · sentiemntaux · sentimenatux · sentimenntaux · sentimentauxx · sentimentaxu
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sentimental" for "sentimentaux" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sentimental" vs "sentimentaux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sentimental" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sentimentaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #79,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sentimental" and "sentimentaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sentimentale vs sentimentaux". 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 #79,615 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.