Which to use
“soldat” and “soudan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,504
- “soldat” frequency rank
- #8,929
- “soudan” frequency rank
- 12433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soldat | soudan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui sert dans une armée, et reçoit une solde. | Nom qu’on donnait jadis au sultan, et particulièrement à celui d’Égypte. |
Where the eye mixes soldat and soudan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses soldat with soudan
A purely visual mix-up. soldat (\sɔl.da\) and soudan (\su.dɑ̃\) 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 12433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soldat is recorded at frequency rank #3,504, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔl.da\. soudan is at rank #8,929, tagged as anoun, pronounced \su.dɑ̃\.
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 12433, this pair ranks #405,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soldat vs soudan
Shared letters: ados. Private to "soldat": lt. Private to "soudan": nu.
"soldat" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "soudan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soldat" for "soudan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "soldat" or "soudan"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "soldat" and "soudan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "soldat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soudan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soldat" and "soudan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soudan vs soutane". 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 #405,297 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.