soif

\swaf\

/\swaf\/ noun

The verdict

“soif” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,243. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,243
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Désir, envie ou besoin de boire.

Corpus desk

Index FR-soif · soif · French

soif · rank #6,243 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,243
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH signée

Nearest frequency peer: signée (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « soif »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « soif » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

soif vs son
50% similar
soif vs sol
50% similar
soif vs sou
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for soif
PropertyValue
Headwordsoif
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\swaf\
Letters4
Frequency rank#6,243
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « soif »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.soifse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « signée » (#6,242), « souffert » (#6,244), « sexuels » (#6,241). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « soif » est au #6,243. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around soif (IPA \swaf\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,243 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for soif, with forms such as "osif", "siof", and "sofi". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "son", "sol", "sou", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is soif, spelled S-O-I-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Désir, envie ou besoin de boire.
  2. 2
    Désir immodéré ou impatient.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how soif appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. N’avez-vous pas faim et soif, seigneur archer ? reprit la jeune fille ; mettez-vous donc à cette table, et buvez et mangez ; c’est moi qui vous y invite.
  2. Il y avait deux longues heures que nous marchions, dans les champs, sous le soleil qui tombait du ciel comme une pluie de feu ; la sueur ruisselait sur mon corps et la soif, une soif ardente, me dévorait.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • osif
  • siof
  • sofi
  • soiff
  • ssoif

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of soif - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

osif2siof2sofi2soiff1ssoif1
Edit distance from "soif"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "soif"?
"soif" is spelled S-O-I-F. The IPA pronunciation is \swaf\.
What does "soif" mean?
As a noun, "soif" means: Désir, envie ou besoin de boire.
What words are commonly confused with "soif"?
"soif" is commonly confused with "son", "sol", "sou". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "soif"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "soif" is \swaf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "soif" come from?
"soif" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "soif", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list