Which to use
“sold” is a verb and “sourd” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,741
- “sold” frequency rank
- #10,411
- “sourd” frequency rank
- 55152
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sold | sourd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de solden. | Dont l’acuité auditive est diminuée de façon importante ou totale, en parlant d’une personne ou d'un animal. |
Where the eye mixes sold and sourd
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sold runs 4 letters (CVCC) against sourd's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sold vs sourd
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sold is \zɔlt\ while sourd is \suʁ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55152, 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\. sourd is at rank #10,411, tagged as anadj, pronounced \suʁ\.
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 55152, this pair ranks #129,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sold vs sourd
Shared letters: dos. Private to "sold": l. Private to "sourd": ru.
"sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sourd" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sold" and "sourd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sold" or "sourd" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "sourd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sold" and "sourd" 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 #129,343 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.