Which to use
“solide” is an adjective and “sourde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,695
- “solide” frequency rank
- #14,569
- “sourde” frequency rank
- 17264
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | solide | sourde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a de la consistance. | Femme sourde. |
Where the eye mixes solide and sourde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses solide with sourde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: solide is \so.lid\ while sourde is \suʁd\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
solide is recorded at frequency rank #2,695, classified as anadj, pronounced \so.lid\. sourde is at rank #14,569, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suʁd\.
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 17264, this pair ranks #384,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of solide vs sourde
Shared letters: deos. Private to "solide": il. Private to "sourde": ru.
"solide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "sourde" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "solide" for "sourde" ever safe?
Which is more common, "solide" or "sourde"?
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 "solide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sourde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "solide" and "sourde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souabe vs sourde". 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 #384,015 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.