solvssupWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sol is a noun, sup is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sol” is a noun and “sup” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#833
“sol” frequency rank
#10,952
“sup” frequency rank
11785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sol sup
Definition Cinquième note de la gamme. Super

Where the eye mixes sol and sup

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
sol
3 ch
sup

Why the eye confuses sol with sup

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sol is \sɔl\ while sup is \syp\. 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 intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sol is recorded at frequency rank #833, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔl\. sup is at rank #10,952, tagged as anintj, pronounced \syp\.

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 11785, this pair ranks #407,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sol vs sup

Shared letters: s. Private to "sol": lo. Private to "sup": pu.

"sol" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sol" for "sup" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sol" is a noun and "sup" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sol" or "sup"?
"sol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #833 in our French list, against #10,952 for "sup". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #407,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sol" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sup vs suu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #407,824 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