Which to use
“soeurs” is a typographic variant and “surs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,890
- “soeurs” frequency rank
- #45,900
- “surs” frequency rank
- 52790
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soeurs | surs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de soeur ; variante par contrainte typographique de sœurs. | Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif sur. |
Where the eye mixes soeurs and surs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: soeurs vs surs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soeurs is \sœʁ\ while surs is \syʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (typographic variant vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soeurs is recorded at frequency rank #6,890, classified as atypographic variant, pronounced \sœʁ\. surs is at rank #45,900, tagged as anadj, pronounced \syʁ\.
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 52790, this pair ranks #145,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soeurs vs surs
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "soeurs": eo. Private to "surs": -.
"soeurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC · "surs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soeurs" for "surs" ever safe?
Which is more common, "soeurs" or "surs"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "soeurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soeurs" and "surs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surs vs suu". 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 #145,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.