Which to use
“sour” and “sueur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,736
- “sour” frequency rank
- #9,746
- “sueur” frequency rank
- 45482
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sour | sueur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Égout. | Liquide aqueux qui sort par les pores de la peau. |
Where the eye mixes sour and sueur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sour runs 4 letters (CVVC) against sueur's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sour with sueur
A purely visual mix-up. sour (\suʁ\) and sueur (\sɥœʁ\) 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 45482, 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\. sueur is at rank #9,746, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɥœʁ\.
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 45482, this pair ranks #202,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sour vs sueur
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sour": o. Private to "sueur": e.
"sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sueur" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sour" and "sueur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sour" or "sueur" 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 "sour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sueur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sour" and "sueur" 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 #202,412 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.