Which to use
“sieste” and “sister” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,785
- “sieste” frequency rank
- #33,012
- “sister” frequency rank
- 43797
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sieste | sister |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sommeil auquel on se livre après le déjeuner, pendant la chaleur du jour. | Sœur (dans un sens moral, et dans un contexte de personnes anglophones). |
Where the eye mixes sieste and sister
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sieste with sister
A purely visual mix-up. sieste (\sjɛst\) and sister (\sis.tœʁ\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sieste is recorded at frequency rank #10,785, classified as anoun, pronounced \sjɛst\. sister is at rank #33,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sis.tœʁ\.
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 43797, this pair ranks #215,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sieste vs sister
Shared letters: eist. Private to "sieste": -. Private to "sister": r.
"sieste" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sieste" for "sister" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sieste" vs "sister" - 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 "sieste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sister" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sieste" and "sister" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sister vs sisters". 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 #215,330 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.