Which to use
“sis” is an adjective and “son” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,157
- “sis” frequency rank
- #42
- “son” frequency rank
- 19199
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sis | son |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est situé. | Troisième personne du sujet, objet masculin singulier. |
Where the eye mixes sis and son
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between sis and son
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sis is \si\ 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 (adjective vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sis is recorded at frequency rank #19,157, classified as anadj, pronounced \si\. 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 19199, this pair ranks #374,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sis vs son
Shared letters: s. Private to "sis": i. Private to "son": no.
"sis" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "son" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sis" for "son" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sis" vs "son" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sis" 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 #374,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sis" and "son" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sis vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #374,460 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.