SévignévssigneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Sévigné is a name, signe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sévigné” is a name and “signe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,749
“Sévigné” frequency rank
#1,097
“signe” frequency rank
36846
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sévigné signe
Definition Ancien fief actuellement situé sur la commune de Cesson-Sévigné. Indice ou marque d’une chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Sévigné and signe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Sévigné
5 ch
signe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sévigné is \se.vi.ɲe\ while signe is \siɲ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sévigné is recorded at frequency rank #35,749, classified as aname, pronounced \se.vi.ɲe\. signe is at rank #1,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siɲ\.

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 36846, this pair ranks #266,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Sévigné vs signe

Shared letters: gins. Private to "Sévigné": . Private to "signe": e.

"Sévigné" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "signe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • signeisgne · sgine · sigen · siggne · signne · ssigne

Frequency comparison

Sévigné#35,749
signe#1,097

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sévigné" and "signe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sévigné" is a name and "signe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sévigné" or "signe"?
"signe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,097 in our French list, against #35,749 for "Sévigné". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Sévigné vs signe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Sévigné”; for a noun, it's “signe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Sévigné” 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