savanesvssavonsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,035
“savanes” frequency rank
#3,961
“savons” frequency rank
50996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature savanes savons
Definition Pluriel de savane. Pluriel de savon.

Where the eye mixes savanes and savons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. savanes runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against savons's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
savanes
6 ch
savons

Why the eye confuses savanes with savons

A purely visual mix-up. savanes (\sa.van\) and savons (\sa.vɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

savanes is recorded at frequency rank #47,035, classified as anoun, pronounced \sa.van\. savons is at rank #3,961, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sa.vɔ̃\.

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 50996, this pair ranks #158,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of savanes vs savons

Shared letters: ansv. Private to "savanes": e. Private to "savons": o.

"savanes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "savons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • savanesasvanes · saavnes · savaens · savaness · savannes · savanse · savnaes · savvanes
  • savonsasvons · saovns · savnos · savonns · savonss · savosn · savvons · ssavons

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "savanes" for "savons" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sa.van\ versus \sa.vɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "savanes" or "savons"?
"savons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,961 in our French list, against #47,035 for "savanes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "savanes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "savons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "savanes" and "savons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "salines vs savanes". 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 #158,353 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