Which to use
“soupape” and “soutane” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,602
- “soupape” frequency rank
- #45,880
- “soutane” frequency rank
- 78482
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupape | soutane |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit levier ou languette à ressort obturant la circulation de fluide dans une pompe ou un tuyau en deçà d’une pression donnée. | Vêtement boutonné du haut en bas et tombant jusqu’aux pieds, que portent notamment les ecclésiastiques. |
Where the eye mixes soupape and soutane
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. soupape and soutane follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses soupape with soutane
A purely visual mix-up. soupape (\su.pap\) and soutane (\su.tan\) 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 78482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soupape is recorded at frequency rank #32,602, classified as anoun, pronounced \su.pap\. soutane is at rank #45,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced \su.tan\.
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 78482, this pair ranks #25,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of soupape vs soutane
Shared letters: aeosu. Private to "soupape": p. Private to "soutane": nt.
"soupape" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "soutane" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soupape" and "soutane" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "soupape" or "soutane" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "soupape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soutane" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupape" and "soutane" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souabe vs soutane". 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 #25,619 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.