solevssoliWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sole” and “soli” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,037
“sole” frequency rank
#48,798
“soli” frequency rank
72835
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sole soli
Definition Partie inférieure creuse du sabot.  ^([1]) Sous le faîtage, espace servant à engranger le foin (fenière) et où l'on peut aussi coucher, en y accédant par une échelle extérieure.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sole and soli apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sole
4 ch
soli

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sole (\sɔl\) and soli (\sɔ.lo\) 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 - e in “sole” becomes i in “soli”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sole is recorded at frequency rank #24,037, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔl\. soli is at rank #48,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.lo\.

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 72835, this pair ranks #42,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sole vs soli

Shared letters: los. Private to "sole": e. Private to "soli": i.

"sole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "soli" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soleosle · sloe · soel · solle · ssole
  • soliosli · sloi · soil · solli · ssoli

Frequency comparison

sole#24,037
soli#48,798

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sole" and "soli" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɔl\ versus \sɔ.lo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sole" or "soli"?
"sole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,037 in our French list, against #48,798 for "soli". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sole vs soli

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sole” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list