Which to use
“souffert” and “souffre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,244
- “souffert” frequency rank
- #3,804
- “souffre” frequency rank
- 10048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souffert | souffre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de souffrir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif du verbe souffrir. |
Where the eye mixes souffert and souffre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses souffert with souffre
A purely visual mix-up. souffert (\su.fɛʁ\) and souffre (\sufʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souffert is recorded at frequency rank #6,244, classified as averb, pronounced \su.fɛʁ\. souffre is at rank #3,804, tagged as averb, pronounced \sufʁ\.
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 10048, this pair ranks #414,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of souffert vs souffre
Shared letters: eforsu. Private to "souffert": t. Private to "souffre": -.
"souffert" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "souffre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souffert" for "souffre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "souffert" vs "souffre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "souffert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "souffre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souffert" and "souffre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souffert vs soufflent". 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 #414,400 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.