Which to use
“sièges” and “sires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,802
- “sièges” frequency rank
- #48,797
- “sires” frequency rank
- 52599
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sièges | sires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de siège. | Pluriel de sire. |
Where the eye mixes sièges and sires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sièges runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against sires's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sièges with sires
A purely visual mix-up. sièges (\sjɛʒ\) and sires (\siʁ\) 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 52599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sièges is recorded at frequency rank #3,802, classified as anoun, pronounced \sjɛʒ\. sires is at rank #48,797, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siʁ\.
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 52599, this pair ranks #146,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sièges vs sires
Shared letters: eis. Private to "sièges": gè. Private to "sires": r.
"sièges" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "sires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sires ← isres · siers · siress · sirres · sirse · sries · ssires
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sièges" for "sires" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sièges" vs "sires" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sièges" and "sires" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sièges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sièges" and "sires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sires vs sofres". 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 #146,590 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.