Which to use
“sillage” and “syllabe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,483
- “sillage” frequency rank
- #23,704
- “syllabe” frequency rank
- 40187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sillage | syllabe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Trace que fait un bateau lorsqu’il navigue. | Voyelle ou réunion de phonèmes qui se prononcent par une seule émission de voix. |
Where the eye mixes sillage and syllabe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sillage vs syllabe
A purely visual mix-up. sillage (\si.jaʒ\) and syllabe (\si.lab\) 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 40187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sillage is recorded at frequency rank #16,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \si.jaʒ\. syllabe is at rank #23,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.lab\.
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 40187, this pair ranks #242,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sillage vs syllabe
Shared letters: aels. Private to "sillage": gi. Private to "syllabe": by.
"sillage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "syllabe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sillage" and "syllabe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sillage" or "syllabe"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sillage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "syllabe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sillage" and "syllabe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sylla vs syllabe". 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 #242,376 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.