sofresvssouffresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,946
“sofres” frequency rank
#35,287
“souffres” frequency rank
85233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sofres souffres
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de sofrer. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe souffrir.

Where the eye mixes sofres and souffres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sofres
8 ch
souffres

Look-alike desk: sofres vs souffres

A purely visual mix-up. sofres (\ˈso.fɾɨʃ\) and souffres (\sufʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sofres is recorded at frequency rank #49,946, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈso.fɾɨʃ\. souffres is at rank #35,287, tagged as averb, pronounced \sufʁ\.

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 85233, this pair ranks #11,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sofres vs souffres

Shared letters: efors. Private to "sofres": -. Private to "souffres": u.

"sofres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "souffres" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sofresosfres · sfores · sofers · soffres · sofress · sofrres · sofrse · sorfes
  • souffresosuffres · sofufres · souffers · souffress · souffrres · souffrse · soufres · soufrfes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sofres" for "souffres" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈso.fɾɨʃ\ versus \sufʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sofres" or "souffres"?
"souffres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,287 in our French list, against #49,946 for "sofres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "sofres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "souffres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sofres" and "souffres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "socles vs sofres". 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 #11,676 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