sonde
\sɔ̃d\
The verdict
“sonde” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #7,902 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,902
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Instrument qui sert à sonder. — Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour connaître la profondeur de la mer, d’une rivière, la nature du fond, etc.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sonde |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \sɔ̃d\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,902 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sonde” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for sonde is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɔ̃d\. Corpus data places it at rank #7,902 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sonde, with forms such as "osnde", "snode", and "sodne". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sont", "sons", "sony", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is sonde, spelled S-O-N-D-E.
Definition
- 1Instrument qui sert à sonder. — Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour connaître la profondeur de la mer, d’une rivière, la nature du fond, etc.
- 2Donner un coup de sonde, chercher à connaître les dispositions de quelqu’un.
- 3Sorte de tarière qu’on enfonce dans la terre pour reconnaître les différentes couches du terrain, pour forer un puits, etc.
- 4Tige creuse qu’on enfonce dans un jambon, dans un melon, dans un fromage, etc., pour en retirer une petite partie et s’assurer de sa qualité.
- 5Tige de fer dont se servaient les douaniers, les employés d’octroi pour explorer les voitures, les paniers, etc.
- 6Tuyau de petit diamètre que l’on introduit dans le corps pour recueillir un fluide, un tissu ou un prélèvement.
- 7Véhicule aérospatial envoyé dans l'espace pour une mission d'exploration.
- 8Sonde à tire-bourre, plusieurs baguettes de fer unies par deux anneaux qui entrent l'un dans l'autre; au bout de cette sonde est un tire-bourre qui sert à arracher tout ce qui se rencontre dans les tuyaux de conduite et qui les obstrue.
- 9Altitude au-dessus ou au-dessous d’une surface de référence, d’un point de la surface terrestre constamment ou périodiquement immergé.
- 10Nombre figurant sur la carte indiquant la valeur de la sonde, positive ou négative, d’un point ou d’une courbe de niveau.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osnde,snode,sodne,sondde,soned,sonnde,ssonde
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sonde - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "sonde"?
What does "sonde" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sonde"?
How do you pronounce "sonde"?
What language does "sonde" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “sonde”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-O-N-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \sɔ̃d\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sont” - see the side-by-side comparison. sonde vs sont
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.