Which to use
“sorts” and “STS” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,577
- “sorts” frequency rank
- #40,514
- “STS” frequency rank
- 61091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sorts | STS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de sort. | Navette spatiale américaine ayant effectué 135 vols pour l'agence spatiale américaine (NASA) entre le 12 avril 1981 et juillet 2011. |
Where the eye mixes sorts and STS
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sorts vs STS
A purely visual mix-up. sorts (\sɔʁ\) and STS (\ɛs te ɛs\) 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 61091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sorts is recorded at frequency rank #20,577, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔʁ\. STS is at rank #40,514, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛs te ɛs\.
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 61091, this pair ranks #94,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sorts vs STS
Shared letters: st. Private to "sorts": or. Private to "STS": -.
"sorts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "STS" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sorts ← osrts · sorrts · sorst · sortss · sortts · sotrs · srots · ssorts
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sorts" and "STS" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sorts" or "STS" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sorts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "STS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sorts" and "STS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "STS vs suu". 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 #94,115 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.