Which to use
“surface” and “surtaxe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,302
- “surface” frequency rank
- #39,565
- “surtaxe” frequency rank
- 40867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | surface | surtaxe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Superficie, partie extérieure d’un corps ; ce qui le limite dans l’espace. | Ce qu’on ajoute en surcroît à une taxe. |
Where the eye mixes surface and surtaxe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: surface vs surtaxe
A purely visual mix-up. surface (\syʁ.fas\) and surtaxe (\syʁ.taks\) 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 40867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
surface is recorded at frequency rank #1,302, classified as anoun, pronounced \syʁ.fas\. surtaxe is at rank #39,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced \syʁ.taks\.
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 40867, this pair ranks #237,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of surface vs surtaxe
Shared letters: aersu. Private to "surface": cf. Private to "surtaxe": tx.
"surface" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "surtaxe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "surface" and "surtaxe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "surface" or "surtaxe" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "surface" and "surtaxe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "surface" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surtaxe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "surface" and "surtaxe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surtaxe vs syntaxe". 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 #237,312 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.