Which to use
“sold” and “solder” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,741
- “sold” frequency rank
- #37,562
- “solder” frequency rank
- 82303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sold | solder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de solden. | Donner une solde à des troupes, à des mercenaires. |
Where the eye mixes sold and solder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sold runs 4 letters (CVCC) against solder's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sold and solder
A purely visual mix-up. sold (\zɔlt\) and solder (\sɔl.de\) 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 extra letter(s) - “sold” sits inside “solder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sold is recorded at frequency rank #44,741, classified as averb, pronounced \zɔlt\. solder is at rank #37,562, 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 82303, this pair ranks #17,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sold vs solder
Shared letters: dlos. Private to "sold": -. Private to "solder": er.
"sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "solder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sold" for "solder" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sold" vs "solder" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "solder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sold" and "solder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sold vs soya". 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 #17,008 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.