SiriusvssiropsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Sirius is a name, sirops is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sirius” is a name and “sirops” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,745
“Sirius” frequency rank
#45,878
“sirops” frequency rank
74623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sirius sirops
Definition Étoile principale de la constellation du Grand Chien. Pluriel de sirop.

Where the eye mixes Sirius and sirops

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Sirius (CVCVVC) and sirops (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Sirius
6 ch
sirops

Look-alike desk: Sirius vs sirops

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sirius is \si.ʁjys\ while sirops is \si.ʁo\. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sirius is recorded at frequency rank #28,745, classified as aname, pronounced \si.ʁjys\. sirops is at rank #45,878, tagged as anoun, pronounced \si.ʁo\.

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 74623, this pair ranks #36,584 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Sirius vs sirops

Shared letters: irs. Private to "Sirius": u. Private to "sirops": op.

"Sirius" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "sirops" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sirius ← isrius · siirus · sirisu · siriuss · sirrius · siruis · sriius · ssirius
  • sirops ← isrops · siorps · siropps · siropss · sirosp · sirpos · sirrops · sriops

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sirius" and "sirops" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sirius" is a name and "sirops" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Sirius" vs "sirops" - which ranks higher?
"Sirius" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,745 in our French list, against #45,878 for "sirops". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Sirius" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sirops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,584 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sirius" and "sirops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sires vs sirops". 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 #36,584 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