Which to use
“sauge” and “sauts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,528
- “sauge” frequency rank
- #17,000
- “sauts” frequency rank
- 58528
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sauge | sauts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Membre du genre Salvia, plantes souvent aromatiques de la famille des lamiacées. | Pluriel de saut. |
Where the eye mixes sauge and sauts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sauge (CVVCV) and sauts (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between sauge and sauts
A purely visual mix-up. sauge (\soʒ\) and sauts (\so\) 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 58528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sauge is recorded at frequency rank #41,528, classified as anoun, pronounced \soʒ\. sauts is at rank #17,000, tagged as anoun, pronounced \so\.
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 58528, this pair ranks #108,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sauge vs sauts
Shared letters: asu. Private to "sauge": eg. Private to "sauts": t.
"sauge" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "sauts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sauge" for "sauts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sauge" vs "sauts" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sauge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sauts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sauge" and "sauts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sadie vs sauge". 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 #108,549 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.