sourvssukWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sour” and “suk” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,736
“sour” frequency rank
#47,626
“suk” frequency rank
83362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sour suk
Definition Égout. Nœud dans le bois.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sour and suk apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sour
3 ch
suk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sour (\suʁ\) and suk (\sʊk\) 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 83362, 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\. suk is at rank #47,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sʊk\.

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 83362, this pair ranks #14,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sour vs suk

Shared letters: su. Private to "sour": or. Private to "suk": k.

"sour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "suk" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sourosur · soru · sourr · ssour · suor

Frequency comparison

sour#35,736
suk#47,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sour" and "suk" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\suʁ\ versus \sʊk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sour" or "suk"?
"sour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,736 in our French list, against #47,626 for "suk". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sour vs suk

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sour” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list