singvsSionTell them apart

Quick tell: sing is a verb, Sion is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sing” is a verb and “Sion” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,371
“sing” frequency rank
#16,741
“Sion” frequency rank
40112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sing Sion
Definition Chanter (avec sa voix). Colline de Jérusalem et montagne sacrée, considérée comme l'emplacement historique du palais du roi David et du temple de Salomon.

Where the eye mixes sing and Sion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sing
4 ch
Sion

Look-alike desk: sing vs Sion

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sing is \ˈsɪŋ\ while Sion is \sjɔ̃\. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sing is recorded at frequency rank #23,371, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈsɪŋ\. Sion is at rank #16,741, tagged as aname, pronounced \sjɔ̃\.

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 40112, this pair ranks #242,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sing vs Sion

Shared letters: ins. Private to "sing": g. Private to "Sion": o.

"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Sion" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • singisng · singg · sinng · snig · ssing
  • Sionison · ssion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sing" for "Sion" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sing" is a verb and "Sion" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "sing" or "Sion" show up more?
"Sion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,741 in our French list, against #23,371 for "sing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sing" and "Sion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sind vs sing". 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 #242,950 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list