soutenir

\sut.niʁ\

/\sut.niʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“soutenir” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,936. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,936
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Porter ; supporter ; maintenir.

Corpus desk

Index FR-soutenir · soutenir · French

soutenir · rank #1,936 · 11 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,936
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH résistance

Nearest frequency peer: résistance (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « soutenir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « soutenir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

soutenir vs soutenu
75% similar
soutenir vs souvenir
88% similar
soutenir vs soutenue
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for soutenir
PropertyValue
Headwordsoutenir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\sut.niʁ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#1,936
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « soutenir »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.soutenirse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « résistance » (#1,935), « suivante » (#1,937), « repas » (#1,934). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « soutenir » est au #1,936. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around soutenir (IPA \sut.niʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,936 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for soutenir, with forms such as "osutenir", "sotuenir", and "souetnir". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "soutenu", "souvenir", "soutenue", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is soutenir, spelled S-O-U-T-E-N-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Porter ; supporter ; maintenir.
  2. 2
    Appuyer ; réconforter.
  3. 3
    Assurer, affirmer qu’une chose est vraie.
  4. 4
    Défendre, appuyer une opinion, une doctrine, etc.
  5. 5
    Supporter ou endurer sans découragement, sans trouble, quelque chose de fâcheux, d’inquiétant, de mortifiant, etc.
  6. 6
    Supporter, résister à une attaque, à quelque chose dont il est difficile de se défendre.
  7. 7
    Sustenter, donner de la force ; il se dit des aliments.
  8. 8
    Se tenir debout ; se tenir droit.
  9. 9
    Être porté, de manière à ne pas tomber ou s’enfoncer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how soutenir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Cette colonne soutient tout le bâtiment.
  2. Cette pièce de bois soutient la charpente.

This word in other languages

support(English)stützen(Deutsch)suportar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • osutenir
  • sotuenir
  • souetnir
  • souteinr
  • soutenirr
  • soutennir
  • soutenri
  • soutneir
  • souttenir
  • ssoutenir
  • suotenir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of soutenir - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

osutenir2sotuenir2souetnir2souteinr2soutenirr1soutennir1soutenri2soutneir2
Edit distance from "soutenir"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "soutenir"?
"soutenir" is spelled S-O-U-T-E-N-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \sut.niʁ\.
What does "soutenir" mean?
As a verb, "soutenir" means: Porter ; supporter ; maintenir.
What words are commonly confused with "soutenir"?
"soutenir" is commonly confused with "soutenu", "souvenir", "soutenue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "soutenir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "soutenir" is \sut.niʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "soutenir" come from?
"soutenir" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "soutenir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

suivante#1,937aéroport#1,943interdit#1,920humanité#1,956

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

pouvoirs11 variantsproduire11 variantsrestent11 variantschômage11 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list