sapervssupersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: saper is a verb, supers is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“saper” is a verb and “supers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,798
“saper” frequency rank
#20,287
“supers” frequency rank
51085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saper supers
Definition Travailler avec le pic et la pioche à détruire les fondations d’un édifice, d’un bastion, etc. Pluriel de super.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set saper and supers apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
saper
6 ch
supers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: saper is \sa.pe\ while supers is \sy.pɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saper is recorded at frequency rank #30,798, classified as averb, pronounced \sa.pe\. supers is at rank #20,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sy.pɛʁ\.

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 51085, this pair ranks #157,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of saper vs supers

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "saper": a. Private to "supers": u.

"saper" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "supers" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saperasper · saepr · saperr · sapper · sapre · spaer · ssaper
  • supersspuers · ssupers · sueprs · superrs · superss · supesr · suppers · supres

Frequency comparison

saper#30,798
supers#20,287

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saper" and "supers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saper" is a verb and "supers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "saper" or "supers"?
"supers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,287 in our French list, against #30,798 for "saper". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering saper vs supers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “saper”; for a noun, it's “supers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “saper” 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