soisvssortisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,787
“sois” frequency rank
#5,292
“sortis” frequency rank
7079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sois sortis
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de être. Participe passé masculin pluriel de sortir.

Where the eye mixes sois and sortis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sois
6 ch
sortis

Why the eye confuses sois with sortis

A purely visual mix-up. sois (\swa\) and sortis (\sɔʁ.ti\) 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 7079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sois is recorded at frequency rank #1,787, classified as averb, pronounced \swa\. sortis is at rank #5,292, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.ti\.

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 7079, this pair ranks #424,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sois vs sortis

Shared letters: ios. Private to "sois": -. Private to "sortis": rt.

"sois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sortis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soisosis · sios · soiss · sosi · ssois
  • sortisosrtis · sorits · sorrtis · sortiss · sortsi · sorttis · sotris · srotis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sois" for "sortis" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\swa\ versus \sɔʁ.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sois" vs "sortis" - which ranks higher?
"sois" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,787 in our French list, against #5,292 for "sortis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "sois" and "sortis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sortis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sois" and "sortis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sortiras vs sortis". 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 #424,309 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