Which to use
“sonde” and “sounds” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,902
- “sonde” frequency rank
- #40,022
- “sounds” frequency rank
- 47924
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sonde | sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Pluriel de sound. |
Where the eye mixes sonde and sounds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sonde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against sounds's 6 (CVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sonde vs sounds
A purely visual mix-up. sonde (\sɔ̃d\) and sounds (\saʊndz\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sonde is recorded at frequency rank #7,902, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃d\. sounds is at rank #40,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced \saʊndz\.
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 47924, this pair ranks #183,059 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sonde vs sounds
Shared letters: dnos. Private to "sonde": e. Private to "sounds": u.
"sonde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "sounds" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sonde" for "sounds" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sonde" or "sounds"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sonde" and "sounds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sonde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sounds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,059 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sonde" and "sounds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sounds vs sourdes". 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 #183,059 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.