sottevssouteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,316
“sotte” frequency rank
#25,813
“soute” frequency rank
60129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sotte soute
Definition Femme sans esprit, sans jugement. 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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sotte and soute apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
sotte
5 ch
soute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sotte (\sɔt\) 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 differ by a single letter - t in “sotte” becomes u in “soute”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sotte is recorded at frequency rank #34,316, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɔt\. 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 60129, this pair ranks #99,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sotte vs soute

Shared letters: eost. Private to "sotte": -. Private to "soute": u.

"sotte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "soute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sotteostte · sote · sotet · ssotte · stote
  • souteosute · sotue · souet · soutte · ssoute · suote

Frequency comparison

sotte#34,316
soute#25,813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sotte" and "soute" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɔt\ versus \sut\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sotte" or "soute"?
"soute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,813 in our French list, against #34,316 for "sotte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sotte vs soute

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sotte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list