sautervssitterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,800
“sauter” frequency rank
#31,739
“sitter” frequency rank
35539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sauter sitter
Definition S’élancer en l’air, soit pour retomber au même endroit, soit pour franchir un espace. Modèle, sujet, personne posant pour un portrait.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
sauter
6 ch
sitter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sauter is \so.te\ while sitter is \ˈsɪ.tə\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sauter is recorded at frequency rank #3,800, classified as averb, pronounced \so.te\. sitter is at rank #31,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪ.tə\.

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 35539, this pair ranks #276,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sauter vs sitter

Shared letters: erst. Private to "sauter": au. Private to "sitter": i.

"sauter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "sitter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sauterasuter · satuer · sauetr · sauterr · sautre · sautter · ssauter · suater
  • sitteristter · siter · sitetr · sitterr · sittre · ssitter · stiter

Frequency comparison

sauter#3,800
sitter#31,739

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sauter" and "sitter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sauter" is a verb and "sitter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sauter" or "sitter"?
"sauter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,800 in our French list, against #31,739 for "sitter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sauter vs sitter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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