souterrain
\su.tɛ.ʁɛ̃\
The verdict
“souterrain” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #12,673 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #12,673
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est sous terre.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | souterrain |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \su.tɛ.ʁɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #12,673 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “souterrain” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for souterrain is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \su.tɛ.ʁɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #12,673 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for souterrain, with forms such as "osuterrain", "sotuerrain", and "souetrrain". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "souverain", "souterraine", "souterrains", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is souterrain, spelled S-O-U-T-E-R-R-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Qui est sous terre.
- 2Qualifie des pratiques invisibles dont le résultat n’est perceptible qu’après un long processus.
- 3Qualifie des pratiques cachées pour parvenir à ses fins.
- 4Qualifie un pan de l’économie dont les activités légales se développent en dehors des règles juridiques et fiscales d’un pays et échappent ainsi à toute comptabilisation et taxation.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osuterrain,sotuerrain,souetrrain,souterain,souterarin,souterrainn,souterrani,souterrian,soutrerain,soutterrain,ssouterrain,suoterrain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of souterrain - 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.
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 "souterrain"?
What does "souterrain" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "souterrain"?
How do you pronounce "souterrain"?
What language does "souterrain" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “souterrain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-O-U-T-E-R-R-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \su.tɛ.ʁɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “souverain” - see the side-by-side comparison. souterrain vs souverain
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.