Which to use
“sortie” and “sorts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #623
- “sortie” frequency rank
- #20,577
- “sorts” frequency rank
- 21200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sortie | sorts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de sortir. | Pluriel de sort. |
Where the eye mixes sortie and sorts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sortie runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against sorts's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sortie with sorts
A purely visual mix-up. sortie (\sɔʁ.ti\) and sorts (\sɔʁ\) 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 21200, 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\. sorts is at rank #20,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁ\.
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 21200, this pair ranks #364,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sortie vs sorts
Shared letters: orst. Private to "sortie": ei. Private to "sorts": -.
"sortie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "sorts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sortie" and "sorts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sortie" or "sorts" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sortie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sorts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sortie" and "sorts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sofres vs sorts". 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 #364,387 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.