Which to use
“solder” and “souder” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,562
- “solder” frequency rank
- #28,752
- “souder” frequency rank
- 66314
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | solder | souder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Donner une solde à des troupes, à des mercenaires. | Unir directement par le martelage ou la fusion autogène des parties en contact, de manière à n’en faire qu’une même pièce, en parlant des pièces de métal. |
Where the eye mixes solder and souder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. solder (CVCCVC) and souder (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses solder with souder
A purely visual mix-up. solder (\sɔl.de\) and souder (\su.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 a single letter - l in “solder” becomes u in “souder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
solder is recorded at frequency rank #37,562, classified as averb, pronounced \sɔl.de\. souder is at rank #28,752, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.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 66314, this pair ranks #68,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of solder vs souder
Shared letters: deors. Private to "solder": l. Private to "souder": u.
"solder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "souder" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "solder" and "souder" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "solder" or "souder"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "solder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "souder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "solder" and "souder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "solder vs soler". 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 #68,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.