Which to use
“sondage” and “sonde” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,899
- “sondage” frequency rank
- #7,902
- “sonde” frequency rank
- 10801
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sondage | sonde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de sonder un lieu, d'en mesurer la profondeur, la nature ou la composition. | Instrument qui sert à sonder. — Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour connaître la profondeur de la mer, d’une rivière, la nature du fond, etc. |
Where the eye mixes sondage and sonde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sondage runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against sonde's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sondage with sonde
A purely visual mix-up. sondage (\sɔ̃.daʒ\) and sonde (\sɔ̃d\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sondage is recorded at frequency rank #2,899, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃.daʒ\. sonde is at rank #7,902, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃d\.
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 10801, this pair ranks #411,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sondage vs sonde
Shared letters: denos. Private to "sondage": ag. Private to "sonde": -.
"sondage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "sonde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sondage" and "sonde" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sondage" or "sonde" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sondage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sonde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sondage" and "sonde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sind vs sonde". 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 #411,609 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.