Which to use
“sourire” and “soutirer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,757
- “sourire” frequency rank
- #32,605
- “soutirer” frequency rank
- 34362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sourire | soutirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rire sans éclat, par un léger mouvement de la bouche et du visage. | Transvaser du vin ou quelque autre liquide d’un tonneau dans un autre, de manière que la lie reste dans le premier. |
Where the eye mixes sourire and soutirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sourire and soutirer
A purely visual mix-up. sourire (\su.ʁiʁ\) and soutirer (\su.ti.ʁe\) 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 34362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sourire is recorded at frequency rank #1,757, classified as averb, pronounced \su.ʁiʁ\. soutirer is at rank #32,605, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.ti.ʁe\.
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 34362, this pair ranks #284,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sourire vs soutirer
Shared letters: eiorsu. Private to "sourire": -. Private to "soutirer": t.
"sourire" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "soutirer" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sourire" and "soutirer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sourire" vs "soutirer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sourire" and "soutirer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sourire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soutirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #284,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sourire" and "soutirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soulier vs soutirer". 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 #284,369 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.