sitesvssortesConfusable pair

Which to use

“sites” and “sortes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,403
“sites” frequency rank
#3,964
“sortes” frequency rank
5367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sites sortes
Definition Pluriel de site. Pluriel de sorte.

Where the eye mixes sites and sortes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sites
6 ch
sortes

Why the eye confuses sites with sortes

A purely visual mix-up. sites (\sit\) and sortes (\sɔʁt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sites is recorded at frequency rank #1,403, classified as anoun, pronounced \sit\. sortes is at rank #3,964, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁt\.

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 5367, this pair ranks #429,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sites vs sortes

Shared letters: est. Private to "sites": i. Private to "sortes": or.

"sites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sortes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sitesistes · siets · sitess · sitse · sittes · ssites · sties
  • sortesosrtes · sorets · sorrtes · sortess · sortse · sorttes · sotres · srotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sites" for "sortes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sit\ versus \sɔʁt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "sites" or "sortes" show up more?
"sites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,403 in our French list, against #3,964 for "sortes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sortes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sites" and "sortes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sofres vs sortes". 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 #429,219 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