Which to use
“sommes” and “summer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #405
- “sommes” frequency rank
- #12,869
- “summer” frequency rank
- 13274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sommes | summer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de somme. | Été (saison). |
Where the eye mixes sommes and summer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sommes and summer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: sommes vs summer
A purely visual mix-up. sommes (\sɔm\) and summer (\ˈsʌm.ɚ\) 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 13274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sommes is recorded at frequency rank #405, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔm\. summer is at rank #12,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsʌm.ɚ\.
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 13274, this pair ranks #401,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sommes vs summer
Shared letters: ems. Private to "sommes": o. Private to "summer": ru.
"sommes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "summer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sommes" for "summer" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sommes" or "summer"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sommes" and "summer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sommes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "summer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sommes" and "summer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spammer vs summer". 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 #401,703 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.