Which to use
“sommeil” and “sommets” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,799
- “sommeil” frequency rank
- #8,461
- “sommets” frequency rank
- 11260
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sommeil | sommets |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État inconscient, souvent accompagné de rêves, dans lequel doivent obligatoirement se plonger les hommes et les animaux périodiquement pour des raisons psychologiques et physiologiques. | Pluriel de sommet. |
Where the eye mixes sommeil and sommets
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sommeil (CVCCVVC) and sommets (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between sommeil and sommets
A purely visual mix-up. sommeil (\sɔ.mɛj\) and sommets (\sɔ.mɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sommeil is recorded at frequency rank #2,799, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.mɛj\. sommets is at rank #8,461, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.mɛ\.
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 11260, this pair ranks #409,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sommeil vs sommets
Shared letters: emos. Private to "sommeil": il. Private to "sommets": t.
"sommeil" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "sommets" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sommeil" for "sommets" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sommeil" vs "sommets" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sommeil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sommets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sommeil" and "sommets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sommets vs sonnets". 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 #409,818 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.