Which to use
“same” and “sample” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,557
- “same” frequency rank
- #40,483
- “sample” frequency rank
- 58040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | same | sample |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue finno-ougrienne parlée en Laponie. Code ISO 639-2 : smi, code général à tous les dialectes sames. | Variante de semple. |
Where the eye mixes same and sample
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses same with sample
A purely visual mix-up. same (\sam\) and sample (\sɑ̃pl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
same is recorded at frequency rank #17,557, classified as anoun, pronounced \sam\. sample is at rank #40,483, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃pl\.
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 58040, this pair ranks #111,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of same vs sample
Shared letters: aems. Private to "same": -. Private to "sample": lp.
"same" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sample" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "same" and "sample" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "same" or "sample"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "same" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sample" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "same" and "sample" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sample vs samples". 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 #111,431 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.