Which to use
“sévir” and “subir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,832
- “sévir” frequency rank
- #3,878
- “subir” frequency rank
- 34710
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sévir | subir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exercer la répression avec rigueur, contre les personnes, leurs actes. | Souffrir, supporter ou être soumis à quelque chose de pénible. |
Where the eye mixes sévir and subir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sévir and subir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: sévir vs subir
A purely visual mix-up. sévir (\se.viʁ\) and subir (\sy.biʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sévir is recorded at frequency rank #30,832, classified as averb, pronounced \se.viʁ\. subir is at rank #3,878, tagged as averb, pronounced \sy.biʁ\.
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 34710, this pair ranks #281,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sévir vs subir
Shared letters: irs. Private to "sévir": vé. Private to "subir": bu.
"sévir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "subir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- subir ← sbuir · ssubir · subbir · subirr · subri · suibr · usbir
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sévir" and "subir" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sévir" vs "subir" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sévir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "subir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sévir" and "subir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Selim vs sévir". 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 #281,941 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.