scoutvssourConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,767
“scout” frequency rank
#35,736
“sour” frequency rank
57503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scout sour
Definition Personne qui pratique le scoutisme. Égout.

Where the eye mixes scout and sour

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. scout runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against sour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
scout
4 ch
sour

Visual trap between scout and sour

A purely visual mix-up. scout (\skut\) and sour (\suʁ\) 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 57503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scout is recorded at frequency rank #21,767, classified as anoun, pronounced \skut\. sour is at rank #35,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suʁ\.

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 57503, this pair ranks #114,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scout vs sour

Shared letters: osu. Private to "scout": ct. Private to "sour": r.

"scout" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scout ← csout · sccout · scotu · scoutt · scuot · socut · sscout
  • sour ← osur · soru · sourr · ssour · suor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scout" and "sour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\skut\ versus \suʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "scout" or "sour"?
"scout" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,767 in our French list, against #35,736 for "sour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scout" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scout" and "sour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sour vs suu". 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 #114,643 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