Which to use
“sans” is a preposition and “sind” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #80
- “sans” frequency rank
- #48,796
- “sind” frequency rank
- 48876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sans | sind |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Préposition marquant l’absence, le manque, l’exclusion d’une personne, d’une chose. — Note d’usage : On n’utilise généralement pas d’article indéfini ou partitif. Peut s’accentuer avec aucun. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif à la forme active de sein. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sans and sind apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sans is \sɑ̃\ while sind is \zɪnt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sans is recorded at frequency rank #80, classified as aprep, pronounced \sɑ̃\. sind is at rank #48,796, tagged as averb, pronounced \zɪnt\.
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 48876, this pair ranks #175,328 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sans vs sind
Shared letters: ns. Private to "sans": a. Private to "sind": di.
"sans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sans" and "sind" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sans" or "sind"?
Remembering sans vs sind
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “sans”; for a verb, it's “sind”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sans” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable