Français homophones

saoul/sou/soul/sous/suu

"saoul" is an adjective; "sou" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "saoul" arrives as an adjective, while "sou" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

No shared spelling stem: "saoul" is 5 letters, "sou" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "saoul" is 5 letters, "soul" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "saoul" is 5 letters, "sous" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "saoul" is 5 letters, "suu" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "sou" then splits - "sou" (3 letters) vs "soul" (4).
Shared stem "sou" then splits - "sou" (3 letters) vs "sous" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "sou" is 3 letters, "suu" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Single-letter fork: "soul" keeps l, "sous" writes s at letter 4.
No shared spelling stem: "soul" is 4 letters, "suu" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "sous" is 4 letters, "suu" is 3; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across saoul, sou, soul, sous, suu: su. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

saoul
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory alosu · private alo
sou
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory osu · private o
soul
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory losu · private lo
sous
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory osu · private o
suu
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory su · no private letters vs siblings

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "saoul" when you mean: Ivre, aviné.
Write "sou" when you mean: Monnaie d’or médiévale, dérivant du solidus romain.
Write "soul" when you mean: Repu, rassasié.
Write "sous" when you mean: Sert à marquer la situation d’une chose à l’égard d’une autre qui est au-dessus, par-dessus, qui la couvre en totalité ou en partie.
Write "suu" when you mean: Son.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

saoul ← asoul · saolu · saoull · sauol · soaul · ssaoul
soul ← osul · solu · soull · ssoul · suol
sous ← osus · sosu · souss · ssous · suos

Each spelling

saoul

adjective · /\su\/ · #15,755 frequency

Ivre, aviné.

sou

noun · /\su\/ · #10,242 frequency

Monnaie d’or médiévale, dérivant du solidus romain.

soul

adjective · /\su\/ · #10,409 frequency

Repu, rassasié.

sous

preposition · /\su\/ · #115 frequency

Sert à marquer la situation d’une chose à l’égard d’une autre qui est au-dessus, par-dessus, qui la couvre en totalité ou en partie.

suu

adjective · /\ˈsuː\/ · #49,960 frequency

Son.