Which to use
“sig” is a pronoun and “son” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,704
- “sig” frequency rank
- #42
- “son” frequency rank
- 22746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sig | son |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se (pronom réflexif). | Troisième personne du sujet, objet masculin singulier. |
Where the eye mixes sig and son
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sig with son
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sig is \sɛj\ while son is \sɔ̃\. 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 (pronoun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sig is recorded at frequency rank #22,704, classified as apron, pronounced \sɛj\. son is at rank #42, tagged as adet, pronounced \sɔ̃\.
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 22746, this pair ranks #356,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sig vs son
Shared letters: s. Private to "sig": gi. Private to "son": no.
"sig" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "son" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sig" and "son" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sig" or "son"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "son" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sig" and "son" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sig vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #356,373 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.