seulesvssexesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#2,739
“seules” frequency rank
#8,619
“sexes” frequency rank
11358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seules sexes
Definition Féminin pluriel de seul. Pluriel de sexe.

Where the eye mixes seules and sexes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. seules runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against sexes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
seules
5 ch
sexes

Visual trap between seules and sexes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seules is \sœl\ while sexes is \sɛks\. 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 11358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seules is recorded at frequency rank #2,739, classified as anadj, pronounced \sœl\. 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 11358, this pair ranks #409,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seules vs sexes

Shared letters: es. Private to "seules": lu. Private to "sexes": x.

"seules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "sexes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seulesesules · selues · seuels · seuless · seulles · seulse · sseules · sueles
  • sexesesxes · seexs · sexess · sexse · sexxes · ssexes · sxees

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seules" for "sexes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seules" is an adjective and "sexes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seules" or "sexes"?
"seules" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,739 in our French list, against #8,619 for "sexes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "seules" and "sexes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seules" 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 #409,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seules" and "sexes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sexes vs sires". 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 #409,460 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list