samavssoyaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sama” and “soya” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,549
“sama” frequency rank
#49,368
“soya” frequency rank
86917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sama soya
Definition Élephant. Sauce de soja.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sama and soya apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sama
4 ch
soya

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sama (\sà.ma\) and soya (\sɔ.ja\) 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 86917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sama is recorded at frequency rank #37,549, classified as anoun, pronounced \sà.ma\. soya is at rank #49,368, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.ja\.

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 86917, this pair ranks #9,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sama vs soya

Shared letters: as. Private to "sama": m. Private to "soya": oy.

"sama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "soya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • samaasma · saam · samma · smaa · ssama
  • soyaosya · soay · soyya · ssoya · syoa

Frequency comparison

sama#37,549
soya#49,368

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sama" and "soya" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sà.ma\ versus \sɔ.ja\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sama" or "soya"?
"sama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,549 in our French list, against #49,368 for "soya". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sama vs soya

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sama” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list