Which to use
“serrés” and “sévères” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,565
- “serrés” frequency rank
- #10,250
- “sévères” frequency rank
- 24815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | serrés | sévères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de serré. | Pluriel de sévère. |
Where the eye mixes serrés and sévères
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. serrés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sévères's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: serrés vs sévères
A purely visual mix-up. serrés (\se.ʁe\) and sévères (\se.vɛʁ\) 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 24815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
serrés is recorded at frequency rank #14,565, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.ʁe\. sévères is at rank #10,250, tagged as anadj, pronounced \se.vɛʁ\.
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 24815, this pair ranks #344,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of serrés vs sévères
Shared letters: ersé. Private to "serrés": -. Private to "sévères": vè.
"serrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sévères" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "serrés" and "sévères" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "serrés" or "sévères"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "serrés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sévères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "serrés" and "sévères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serrés vs sofres". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #344,458 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.