sixvssixteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#592
“six” frequency rank
#35,729
“sixte” frequency rank
36321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature six sixte
Definition (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 6. Intervalle de six notes consécutives, y compris les deux extrêmes.

Where the eye mixes six and sixte

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

3 ch
six
5 ch
sixte

Look-alike desk: six vs sixte

A purely visual mix-up. six (\ˈsɪks\) and sixte (\sikst\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “six” sits inside “sixte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

six is recorded at frequency rank #592, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪks\. sixte is at rank #35,729, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sikst\.

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 36321, this pair ranks #270,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of six vs sixte

Shared letters: isx. Private to "six": -. Private to "sixte": et.

"six" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sixte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sixteisxte · sitxe · sixet · sixtte · sixxte · ssixte · sxite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "six" for "sixte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈsɪks\ versus \sikst\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "six" vs "sixte" - which ranks higher?
"six" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #592 in our French list, against #35,729 for "sixte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "six" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sixte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "six" and "sixte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sixte vs Sixtine". 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 #270,422 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