sources vs sourdes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sources” is a noun and “sourdes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,348
“sources” frequency rank: #42,062
“sourdes” frequency rank: 43410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sources	sourdes
Definition	Pluriel de source.	Féminin pluriel de sourd.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sources and sourdes apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

sources

7 ch

sourdes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sources is \suʁs\ while sourdes is \suʁd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “sources” becomes d in “sourdes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sources is recorded at frequency rank #1,348, classified as anoun, pronounced \suʁs\. sourdes is at rank #42,062, tagged as anadj, pronounced \suʁd\.

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 43410, this pair ranks #218,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sources vs sourdes

Shared letters: eorsu. Private to "sources": c. Private to "sourdes": d.

"sources" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "sourdes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

sources ← osurces · soruces · soucres · sourcces · sourcess · sourcse · sourecs · sourrces
sourdes ← osurdes · sorudes · soudres · sourddes · sourdess · sourdse · soureds · sourrdes

Frequency comparison

sources#1,348

sourdes#42,062

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sources" and "sourdes" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sources" is a noun and "sourdes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "sources" or "sourdes"?

"sources" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,348 in our French list, against #42,062 for "sourdes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering sources vs sourdes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “sources”; for an adjective, it's “sourdes”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sources” entry
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