sortievssortirWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sortie is a noun, sortir is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sortie” is a noun and “sortir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#623
“sortie” frequency rank
#534
“sortir” frequency rank
1157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sortie sortir
Definition Action de sortir. Passer du dedans vers le dehors.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sortie and sortir apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sortie
6 ch
sortir

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

sortie and sortir form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - e in “sortie” becomes r in “sortir” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sortie is recorded at frequency rank #623, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁ.ti\. sortir is at rank #534, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.tiʁ\.

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 1157, this pair ranks #438,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

sortie#623
sortir#534

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sortie" and "sortir" be used interchangeably?
No, "sortie" and "sortir" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering sortie vs sortir

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “sortie”; for a verb, it's “sortir”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sortie” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list