Which to use
“soufre” is a noun and “sourire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,238
- “soufre” frequency rank
- #1,757
- “sourire” frequency rank
- 17995
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soufre | sourire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Élément chimique de numéro atomique 16 et de symbole S qui fait partie des non-métaux, plus spécifiquement des chalcogènes. | Rire sans éclat, par un léger mouvement de la bouche et du visage. |
Where the eye mixes soufre and sourire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses soufre with sourire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soufre is \sufʁ\ while sourire is \su.ʁiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soufre is recorded at frequency rank #16,238, classified as anoun, pronounced \sufʁ\. sourire is at rank #1,757, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.ʁiʁ\.
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 17995, this pair ranks #380,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soufre vs sourire
Shared letters: eorsu. Private to "soufre": f. Private to "sourire": i.
"soufre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "sourire" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soufre" for "sourire" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "soufre" or "sourire" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "soufre" and "sourire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "soufre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sourire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soufre" and "sourire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sofres vs soufre". 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 #380,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.