Which to use
“sto” and “sur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,269
- “sto” frequency rank
- #26
- “sur” frequency rank
- 31295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sto | sur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contraction de la préposition et de l'article défini, « dans le ». | Indique une position plus élevée. |
Where the eye mixes sto and sur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sto with sur
A purely visual mix-up. sto (\sɛ\) and sur (\syʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sto is recorded at frequency rank #31,269, classified as aprep, pronounced \sɛ\. sur is at rank #26, tagged as aprep, 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 31295, this pair ranks #304,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sto vs sur
Shared letters: s. Private to "sto": ot. Private to "sur": ru.
"sto" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "sur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sto" and "sur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "sto" or "sur" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sto" and "sur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sto vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #304,686 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.