sociétésvssorcièresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,404
“sociétés” frequency rank
#12,059
“sorcières” frequency rank
13463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sociétés sorcières
Definition Pluriel de société. Pluriel de sorcière.

Where the eye mixes sociétés and sorcières

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sociétés runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against sorcières's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
sociétés
9 ch
sorcières

Look-alike desk: sociétés vs sorcières

A purely visual mix-up. sociétés (\sɔ.sje.te\) and sorcières (\sɔʁ.sjɛʁ\) 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 13463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sociétés is recorded at frequency rank #1,404, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.sje.te\. sorcières is at rank #12,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁ.sjɛʁ\.

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 13463, this pair ranks #400,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sociétés vs sorcières

Shared letters: cios. Private to "sociétés": té. Private to "sorcières": erè.

"sociétés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "sorcières" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sociétés" for "sorcières" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɔ.sje.te\ versus \sɔʁ.sjɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sociétés" vs "sorcières" - which ranks higher?
"sociétés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,404 in our French list, against #12,059 for "sorcières". 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 "sociétés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sorcières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sociétés" and "sorcières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sociétés vs solistes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #400,934 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