Which to use
“sour” and “source” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,736
- “sour” frequency rank
- #662
- “source” frequency rank
- 36398
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sour | source |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Égout. | Point d’émergence naturelle d’eau, généralement souterraine, à la surface du sol. |
Where the eye mixes sour and source
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sour with source
A purely visual mix-up. sour (\suʁ\) and source (\suʁs\) 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 extra letter(s) - “sour” sits inside “source”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sour is recorded at frequency rank #35,736, classified as anoun, pronounced \suʁ\. source is at rank #662, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suʁs\.
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 36398, this pair ranks #269,892 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sour vs source
Shared letters: orsu. Private to "sour": -. Private to "source": ce.
"sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "source" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sour" and "source" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sour" or "source"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sour" and "source" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "source" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,892 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sour" and "source" 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 #269,892 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.