Which to use
“soupir” and “sour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,068
- “soupir” frequency rank
- #35,736
- “sour” frequency rank
- 48804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupir | sour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Expiration prolongée et souvent audible qu’on laisse échapper sous l’influence d’une émotion, d’un sentiment, tels que la tristesse, la surprise, le soulagement, l’exaspération, la déception ou d’une souffrance. | Égout. |
Where the eye mixes soupir and sour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. soupir 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.
Visual trap between soupir and sour
A purely visual mix-up. soupir (\su.piʁ\) and sour (\suʁ\) 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 48804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soupir is recorded at frequency rank #13,068, classified as anoun, pronounced \su.piʁ\. 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 48804, this pair ranks #175,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soupir vs sour
Shared letters: orsu. Private to "soupir": ip. Private to "sour": -.
"soupir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soupir" and "sour" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "soupir" vs "sour" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "soupir" 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 #175,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupir" and "sour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sour 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 #175,911 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.