Which to use
“soûler” is a verb and “sour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,547
- “soûler” frequency rank
- #35,736
- “sour” frequency rank
- 75283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soûler | sour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rassasier jusqu’à l’excès, gorger de vin, de viande. | Égout. |
Where the eye mixes soûler and sour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. soûler runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against sour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses soûler with sour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soûler is \su.le\ while sour is \suʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soûler is recorded at frequency rank #39,547, classified as averb, pronounced \su.le\. sour is at rank #35,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suʁ\.
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 75283, this pair ranks #34,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of soûler vs sour
Shared letters: ors. Private to "soûler": elû. Private to "sour": u.
"soûler" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sour ← osur · soru · sourr · ssour · suor
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "soûler" and "sour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "soûler" vs "sour" - which ranks higher?
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 "soûler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soûler" and "sour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soûler vs souleva". 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 #34,561 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.