soitvssuisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“soit” and “suis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#124
“soit” frequency rank
#77
“suis” frequency rank
201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soit suis
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de être. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de être.

Where the eye mixes soit and suis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
soit
4 ch
suis

Why the eye confuses soit with suis

A purely visual mix-up. soit (\swa\) and suis (\sɥi\) 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 201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soit is recorded at frequency rank #124, classified as averb, pronounced \swa\. suis is at rank #77, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥi\.

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 201, this pair ranks #439,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of soit vs suis

Shared letters: is. Private to "soit": ot. Private to "suis": u.

"soit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "suis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soitosit · siot · soitt · soti · ssoit
  • suissius · ssuis · suiss · susi · usis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "soit" and "suis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\swa\ versus \sɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "soit" or "suis"?
"suis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #77 in our French list, against #124 for "soit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "soit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #439,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soit" and "suis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suis vs suu". 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 #439,975 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list