soixantevssortanteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,078
“soixante” frequency rank
#30,377
“sortante” frequency rank
35455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soixante sortante
Definition Cinquante-neuf plus un, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 60. Féminin singulier de l’adjectif sortant.

Where the eye mixes soixante and sortante

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

8 ch
soixante
8 ch
sortante

Why the eye confuses soixante with sortante

A purely visual mix-up. soixante (\swa.sɑ̃t\) and sortante (\sɔʁ.tɑ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soixante is recorded at frequency rank #5,078, classified as anadj, pronounced \swa.sɑ̃t\. sortante is at rank #30,377, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɔʁ.tɑ̃t\.

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 35455, this pair ranks #276,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of soixante vs sortante

Shared letters: aenost. Private to "soixante": ix. Private to "sortante": r.

"soixante" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV  ·  "sortante" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soixanteosixante · sioxante · soiaxnte · soixanet · soixannte · soixantte · soixatne · soixnate
  • sortanteosrtante · soratnte · sorrtante · sortanet · sortannte · sortantte · sortatne · sortnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "soixante" and "sortante" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\swa.sɑ̃t\ versus \sɔʁ.tɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "soixante" vs "sortante" - which ranks higher?
"soixante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,078 in our French list, against #30,377 for "sortante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "soixante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sortante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soixante" and "sortante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sortante vs soutane". 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 #276,640 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