Which to use
“sourd” and “sure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,411
- “sourd” frequency rank
- #8,164
- “sure” frequency rank
- 18575
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sourd | sure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dont l’acuité auditive est diminuée de façon importante ou totale, en parlant d’une personne ou d'un animal. | Féminin singulier de sur : qui a un goût acide et aigrelet. |
Where the eye mixes sourd and sure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sourd with sure
A purely visual mix-up. sourd (\suʁ\) and sure (\syʁ\) 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 18575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sourd is recorded at frequency rank #10,411, classified as anadj, pronounced \suʁ\. sure is at rank #8,164, tagged as anadj, pronounced \syʁ\.
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 18575, this pair ranks #377,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sourd vs sure
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sourd": do. Private to "sure": e.
"sourd" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sourd" and "sure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sourd" vs "sure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sourd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #377,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sourd" and "sure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Soult vs sourd". 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 #377,623 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.