sortaitvssortiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“sortait” and “sorti” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,040
“sortait” frequency rank
#1,150
“sorti” frequency rank
9190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sortait sorti
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de sortir. Participe passé masculin singulier de sortir.

Where the eye mixes sortait and sorti

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
sortait
5 ch
sorti

Why the eye confuses sortait with sorti

A purely visual mix-up. sortait (\sɔʁ.tɛ\) and sorti (\sɔʁ.ti\) 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 9190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sortait is recorded at frequency rank #8,040, classified as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.tɛ\. sorti is at rank #1,150, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.ti\.

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 9190, this pair ranks #417,504 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sortait vs sorti

Shared letters: iorst. Private to "sortait": a. Private to "sorti": -.

"sortait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "sorti" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sortaitosrtait · soratit · sorrtait · sortaitt · sortati · sortiat · sorttait · sotrait
  • sortiosrti · sorit · sorrti · sortti · sotri · sroti · ssorti

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sortait" and "sorti" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɔʁ.tɛ\ versus \sɔʁ.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sortait" vs "sorti" - which ranks higher?
"sorti" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,150 in our French list, against #8,040 for "sortait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sortait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sorti" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #417,504 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sortait" and "sorti" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sortait vs surfait". 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 #417,504 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list