sévicesvssévissentWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sévices is a noun, sévissent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sévices” is a noun and “sévissent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,392
“sévices” frequency rank
#43,687
“sévissent” frequency rank
74079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sévices sévissent
Definition Mauvais traitements infligés par une personne ayant autorité à une personne placée sous son autorité, pouvant aller jusqu'aux coups. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de sévir.

Same sound, different letters: sévices vs sévissent

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. sévices runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against sévissent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
sévices
9 ch
sévissent

Ear matches; page differs - sévices and sévissent

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: sévices and sévissent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.vis\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sévices is recorded at frequency rank #30,392, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.vis\. sévissent is at rank #43,687, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.vis\.

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 74079, this pair ranks #38,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sévices vs sévissent

Shared letters: eisvé. Private to "sévices": c. Private to "sévissent": nt.

"sévices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "sévissent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sévices" and "sévissent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sévices" is a noun and "sévissent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sévices" vs "sévissent" - which ranks higher?
"sévices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,392 in our French list, against #43,687 for "sévissent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sévices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sévissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sévices" and "sévissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sémites vs sévices". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,343 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