Which to use
“sting” and “string” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,050
- “sting” frequency rank
- #16,746
- “string” frequency rank
- 54796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sting | string |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Piqûre (d'insecte). | Sous-vêtement principalement féminin, consistant en un triangle de tissu couvrant les parties génitales et maintenu par une cordelette, éventuellement recouverte de dentelle, passant dans l’entrejambe. |
Where the eye mixes sting and string
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sting vs string
A purely visual mix-up. sting (\stɪŋ\) and string (\stʁiŋ\) 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 54796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sting is recorded at frequency rank #38,050, classified as anoun, pronounced \stɪŋ\. string is at rank #16,746, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stʁiŋ\.
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 54796, this pair ranks #131,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sting vs string
Shared letters: ginst. Private to "sting": -. Private to "string": r.
"sting" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "string" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sting" for "string" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sting" vs "string" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sting" and "string" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "string" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sting" and "string" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sind vs sting". 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 #131,602 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.