Which to use
“souci” and “soute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,644
- “souci” frequency rank
- #25,813
- “soute” frequency rank
- 28457
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souci | soute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Soin, préoccupation, inquiétude. | 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 souci and soute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses souci with soute
A purely visual mix-up. souci (\su.si\) 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 28457, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souci is recorded at frequency rank #2,644, classified as anoun, pronounced \su.si\. 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 28457, this pair ranks #322,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of souci vs soute
Shared letters: osu. Private to "souci": ci. Private to "soute": et.
"souci" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "soute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souci" for "soute" ever safe?
Which is more common, "souci" or "soute"?
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 "souci" 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 #322,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souci" 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 #322,675 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.