soldvssortConfusable pair

Quick tell: sold is a verb, sort is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sold” is a verb and “sort” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,741
“sold” frequency rank
#747
“sort” frequency rank
45488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sold sort
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de solden. La destinée considérée comme cause des divers événements de la vie.

Where the eye mixes sold and sort

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sold
4 ch
sort

Look-alike desk: sold vs sort

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sold is \zɔlt\ while sort is \sɔʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45488, 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\. sort is at rank #747, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁ\.

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 45488, this pair ranks #202,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sold vs sort

Shared letters: os. Private to "sold": dl. Private to "sort": rt.

"sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soldosld · slod · sodl · soldd · solld · ssold
  • sortosrt · sorrt · sortt · sotr · srot · ssort

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sold" and "sort" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sold" is a verb and "sort" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sold" or "sort"?
"sort" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #747 in our French list, against #44,741 for "sold". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "sold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sort" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sold" and "sort" 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 #202,367 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