saufsvsseulsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,715
“saufs” frequency rank
#1,171
“seuls” frequency rank
36886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saufs seuls
Definition Masculin pluriel de sauf. Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif seul.

Where the eye mixes saufs and seuls

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
saufs
5 ch
seuls

Look-alike desk: saufs vs seuls

A purely visual mix-up. saufs (\sɔf\) and seuls (\sœl\) 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 36886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saufs is recorded at frequency rank #35,715, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɔf\. seuls is at rank #1,171, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sœl\.

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 36886, this pair ranks #266,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of saufs vs seuls

Shared letters: su. Private to "saufs": af. Private to "seuls": el.

"saufs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "seuls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saufsasufs · safus · sauffs · saufss · sausf · ssaufs · suafs
  • seulsesuls · selus · seulls · seulss · seusl · sseuls · suels

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "saufs" for "seuls" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɔf\ versus \sœl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "saufs" or "seuls"?
"seuls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,171 in our French list, against #35,715 for "saufs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "saufs" and "seuls" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "saufs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seuls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saufs" and "seuls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Safi vs saufs". 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 #266,431 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list