soiesvssommesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,044
“soies” frequency rank
#405
“sommes” frequency rank
39449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soies sommes
Definition Pluriel de soie. Pluriel de somme.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set soies and sommes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
soies
6 ch
sommes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. soies (\swa\) and sommes (\sɔm\) 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 39449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soies is recorded at frequency rank #39,044, classified as anoun, pronounced \swa\. sommes is at rank #405, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔm\.

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 39449, this pair ranks #247,885 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of soies vs sommes

Shared letters: eos. Private to "soies": i. Private to "sommes": m.

"soies" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "sommes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soiesosies · sioes · soeis · soiess · ssoies
  • sommesosmmes · smomes · somems · somes · sommess · sommse · ssommes

Frequency comparison

soies#39,044
sommes#405

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "soies" and "sommes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\swa\ versus \sɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "soies" or "sommes"?
"sommes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #405 in our French list, against #39,044 for "soies". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering soies vs sommes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “soies” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list