Which to use
“somme” and “soute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,458
- “somme” frequency rank
- #25,813
- “soute” frequency rank
- 27271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | somme | soute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Résultat de l’addition de plusieurs nombres. | Réduit ménagé dans les étages inférieurs d’un navire et qui sert de magasin pour les munitions de guerre, pour les provisions, etc. |
Where the eye mixes somme and soute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. somme (CVCCV) and soute (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses somme with soute
A purely visual mix-up. somme (\sɔm\) and soute (\sut\) 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 27271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
somme is recorded at frequency rank #1,458, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔm\. soute is at rank #25,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sut\.
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 27271, this pair ranks #330,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of somme vs soute
Shared letters: eos. Private to "somme": m. Private to "soute": tu.
"somme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "soute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "somme" and "soute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "somme" or "soute" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "somme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "somme" and "soute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Soult vs soute". 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 #330,067 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.