since vs sincère, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“since” is a noun and “sincère” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,811
“since” frequency rank: #5,401
“sincère” frequency rank: 36212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	since	sincère
Definition	Serpillière.	Qui est franc, véridique, qui dit ce qu’il pense, ce qu’il sent réellement.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set since and sincère apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

since

7 ch

sincère

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: since is \sɛ̃s\ while sincère is \sɛ̃.sɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

since is recorded at frequency rank #30,811, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃s\. sincère is at rank #5,401, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃.sɛʁ\.

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 36212, this pair ranks #271,211 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of since vs sincère

Shared letters: ceins. Private to "since": -. Private to "sincère": rè.

"since" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "sincère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

since ← isnce · sicne · sincce · sinec · sinnce · snice · ssince

Frequency comparison

since#30,811

sincère#5,401

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "since" and "sincère" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "since" is a noun and "sincère" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "since" or "sincère"?

"sincère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,401 in our French list, against #30,811 for "since". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering since vs sincère

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “since”; for an adjective, it's “sincère”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “since” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable