Which to use
“sold” is a verb and “sonde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,741
- “sold” frequency rank
- #7,902
- “sonde” frequency rank
- 52643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sold | sonde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de solden. | Instrument qui sert à sonder. — Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour connaître la profondeur de la mer, d’une rivière, la nature du fond, etc. |
Where the eye mixes sold and sonde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sold runs 4 letters (CVCC) against sonde's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sold vs sonde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sold is \zɔlt\ while sonde is \sɔ̃d\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52643, 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\. sonde is at rank #7,902, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃d\.
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 52643, this pair ranks #146,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sold vs sonde
Shared letters: dos. Private to "sold": l. Private to "sonde": en.
"sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sonde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sold" and "sonde" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sold" or "sonde" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sonde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sold" and "sonde" 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 #146,253 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.