Which to use
“salmon” and “sillon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,742
- “salmon” frequency rank
- #22,096
- “sillon” frequency rank
- 56838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | salmon | sillon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (pluriel : salmon) Saumon. | Tranchée que le soc, le coutre de la charrue ouvre dans la terre qu’on laboure. |
Where the eye mixes salmon and sillon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. salmon and sillon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: salmon vs sillon
A purely visual mix-up. salmon (\ˈsæmən\) and sillon (\si.jɔ̃\) 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 56838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
salmon is recorded at frequency rank #34,742, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈsæmən\. sillon is at rank #22,096, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.jɔ̃\.
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 56838, this pair ranks #118,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of salmon vs sillon
Shared letters: lnos. Private to "salmon": am. Private to "sillon": i.
"salmon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sillon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "salmon" for "sillon" ever safe?
Which is more common, "salmon" or "sillon"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "salmon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sillon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #118,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "salmon" and "sillon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sablon vs salmon". 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 #118,605 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.