Which to use
“soupirs” and “sourires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,136
- “soupirs” frequency rank
- #13,912
- “sourires” frequency rank
- 39048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupirs | sourires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de soupir. | Pluriel de sourire. |
Where the eye mixes soupirs and sourires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. soupirs runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against sourires's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: soupirs vs sourires
A purely visual mix-up. soupirs (\su.piʁ\) and sourires (\su.ʁiʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39048, 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\. sourires is at rank #13,912, tagged as anoun, 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 39048, this pair ranks #250,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soupirs vs sourires
Shared letters: iorsu. Private to "soupirs": p. Private to "sourires": e.
"soupirs" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "sourires" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soupirs" and "sourires" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "soupirs" or "sourires" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "sourires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupirs" and "sourires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soudures vs sourires". 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 #250,888 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.