Which to use
“soirée” is a noun and “soldée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #832
- “soirée” frequency rank
- #45,322
- “soldée” frequency rank
- 46154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soirée | soldée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace de temps depuis le déclin du jour jusqu’au moment où l’on se couche (par exemple entre 18 et 24 heures). | Participe passé féminin singulier de solder. |
Where the eye mixes soirée and soldée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. soirée (CVVCVV) and soldée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses soirée with soldée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soirée is \swa.ʁe\ while soldée is \sɔl.de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soirée is recorded at frequency rank #832, classified as anoun, pronounced \swa.ʁe\. soldée is at rank #45,322, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔl.de\.
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 46154, this pair ranks #197,173 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soirée vs soldée
Shared letters: eosé. Private to "soirée": ir. Private to "soldée": dl.
"soirée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "soldée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soirée" for "soldée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "soirée" or "soldée"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "soirée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soldée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #197,173 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soirée" and "soldée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soldée vs soler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #197,173 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.