Which to use
“bonjour” and “bonsoir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #625
- “bonjour” frequency rank
- #4,313
- “bonsoir” frequency rank
- 4938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bonjour | bonsoir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Formule de salutation utilisée lorsqu’on rencontre quelqu’un. | Formule de politesse amicale et souvent mot d’introduction lors d’une rencontre ou lors d’un départ en soirée pour saluer. — Note d’usage : Selon le moment de la journée, on utilisera bonjour ou bonsoir. |
Where the eye mixes bonjour and bonsoir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bonjour and bonsoir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses bonjour with bonsoir
A purely visual mix-up. bonjour (\bɔ̃.ʒuʁ\) and bonsoir (\bɔ̃.swaʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bonjour is recorded at frequency rank #625, classified as anintj, pronounced \bɔ̃.ʒuʁ\. bonsoir is at rank #4,313, tagged as anintj, pronounced \bɔ̃.swaʁ\.
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 4938, this pair ranks #430,310 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bonjour vs bonsoir
Shared letters: bnor. Private to "bonjour": ju. Private to "bonsoir": is.
"bonjour" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "bonsoir" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bonjour" and "bonsoir" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bonjour" vs "bonsoir" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bonjour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bonsoir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #430,310 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bonjour" and "bonsoir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bonjour vs bonjours". 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 #430,310 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.