Which to use
“soupirs” is a noun and “sourire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,136
- “soupirs” frequency rank
- #1,757
- “sourire” frequency rank
- 26893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupirs | sourire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de soupir. | Rire sans éclat, par un léger mouvement de la bouche et du visage. |
Where the eye mixes soupirs and sourire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. soupirs (CVVCVCC) and sourire (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: soupirs vs sourire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soupirs is \su.piʁ\ while sourire is \su.ʁiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soupirs is recorded at frequency rank #25,136, classified as anoun, pronounced \su.piʁ\. 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 26893, this pair ranks #332,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soupirs vs sourire
Shared letters: iorsu. Private to "soupirs": p. Private to "sourire": e.
"soupirs" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "sourire" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soupirs" and "sourire" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "soupirs" or "sourire"?
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 "soupirs" 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 #332,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupirs" and "sourire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soupira vs soupirs". 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 #332,203 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.