Which to use
“souiller” and “soûler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,019
- “souiller” frequency rank
- #39,547
- “soûler” frequency rank
- 79566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souiller | soûler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gâter, salir. | Rassasier jusqu’à l’excès, gorger de vin, de viande. |
Where the eye mixes souiller and soûler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. souiller runs 8 letters (CVVVCCVC) against soûler's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses souiller with soûler
A purely visual mix-up. souiller (\su.je\) and soûler (\su.le\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souiller is recorded at frequency rank #40,019, classified as averb, pronounced \su.je\. soûler is at rank #39,547, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.le\.
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 79566, this pair ranks #22,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of souiller vs soûler
Shared letters: elors. Private to "souiller": iu. Private to "soûler": û.
"souiller" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC · "soûler" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- souiller ← osuiller · soiuller · souilelr · souillerr · souillre · souliler · ssouiller · suoiller
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souiller" for "soûler" ever safe?
Frequency check: "souiller" vs "soûler" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "souiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soûler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souiller" and "soûler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soûler vs souleva". 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 #22,981 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.