Which to use
“ses” is a determiner and “sur” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #67
- “ses” frequency rank
- #26
- “sur” frequency rank
- 93
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ses | sur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel des déterminants possessifs son et sa. Qui sont à lui ou à elle. Note d’usage : Un seul possesseur et plusieurs objets. | Indique une position plus élevée. |
Where the eye mixes ses and sur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ses vs sur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ses is \se\ while sur is \syʁ\. 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 (determiner vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ses is recorded at frequency rank #67, classified as adet, pronounced \se\. sur is at rank #26, tagged as aprep, pronounced \syʁ\.
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 93, this pair ranks #440,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ses vs sur
Shared letters: s. Private to "ses": e. Private to "sur": ru.
"ses" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ses" for "sur" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ses" vs "sur" - which ranks higher?
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 "ses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #440,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ses" and "sur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ses vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #440,111 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.