Which to use
“sic” is an adverb and “SMS” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,132
- “sic” frequency rank
- #4,713
- “SMS” frequency rank
- 15845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sic | SMS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tel que cela a été dit ou écrit, sans modification, aussi étrange ou incorrect que cela paraisse. Il s’utilise le plus souvent en italique et entre crochets pour confirmer l’exactitude de la citation d’un texte, même dans le cas d’une erreur manifeste, d’une faute de langue ou de propos choquants. | Court message écrit qu’on peut envoyer de téléphone mobile à téléphone mobile. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sic and SMS apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
sic and SMS 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 15845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sic is recorded at frequency rank #11,132, classified as anadv, pronounced \sik\. SMS is at rank #4,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ.s‿ɛ.m‿ɛs\.
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 15845, this pair ranks #390,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sic" and "SMS" be used interchangeably?
Remembering sic vs SMS
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “sic”; for a noun, it's “SMS”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sic” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable