Which to use
“souche” and “source” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,392
- “souche” frequency rank
- #662
- “source” frequency rank
- 10054
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souche | source |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie basse du tronc d’un arbre qui reste en terre quand l’arbre a été coupé. | Point d’émergence naturelle d’eau, généralement souterraine, à la surface du sol. |
Where the eye mixes souche and source
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses souche with source
A purely visual mix-up. souche (\suʃ\) and source (\suʁs\) 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 10054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souche is recorded at frequency rank #9,392, classified as anoun, pronounced \suʃ\. source is at rank #662, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suʁs\.
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 10054, this pair ranks #414,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of souche vs source
Shared letters: ceosu. Private to "souche": h. Private to "source": r.
"souche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "source" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souche" for "source" ever safe?
Frequency check: "souche" vs "source" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "souche" and "source" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "souche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "source" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souche" and "source" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souabe vs souche". 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 #414,383 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.