saubervssauterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sauber is a adjective, sauter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sauber” is an adjective and “sauter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,721
“sauber” frequency rank
#3,800
“sauter” frequency rank
48521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sauber sauter
Definition Propre, net, pur. S’élancer en l’air, soit pour retomber au même endroit, soit pour franchir un espace.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sauber and sauter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sauber
6 ch
sauter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sauber is \zaʊ̯.bɐ\ while sauter is \so.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “sauber” becomes t in “sauter”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sauber is recorded at frequency rank #44,721, classified as anadj, pronounced \zaʊ̯.bɐ\. sauter is at rank #3,800, tagged as averb, pronounced \so.te\.

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 48521, this pair ranks #178,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sauber vs sauter

Shared letters: aersu. Private to "sauber": b. Private to "sauter": t.

"sauber" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "sauter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sauberasuber · sabuer · saubber · sauberr · saubre · sauebr · ssauber · suaber
  • sauterasuter · satuer · sauetr · sauterr · sautre · sautter · ssauter · suater

Frequency comparison

sauber#44,721
sauter#3,800

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sauber" and "sauter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sauber" is an adjective and "sauter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sauber" or "sauter"?
"sauter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,800 in our French list, against #44,721 for "sauber". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering sauber vs sauter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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