Which to use
“savon” is a noun and “selon” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,924
- “savon” frequency rank
- #225
- “selon” frequency rank
- 9149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | savon | selon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Produit basique obtenu par la combinaison d’un acide gras avec un alcali et qui sert à blanchir le linge, à nettoyer, à dégraisser, à se laver. | D’après ; eu égard à ; conformément à ; d’une manière correspondant à ; en proportion ; en fonction de. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set savon and selon apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
savon and selon form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
savon is recorded at frequency rank #8,924, classified as anoun, pronounced \sa.vɔ̃\. selon is at rank #225, tagged as aprep, pronounced \sə.lɔ̃\.
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 9149, this pair ranks #417,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "savon" and "selon" be used interchangeably?
Remembering savon vs selon
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “savon”; for a preposition, it's “selon”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “savon” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable