Which to use
“soupçon” is a noun and “soupçonné” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,481
- “soupçon” frequency rank
- #12,258
- “soupçonné” frequency rank
- 25739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupçon | soupçonné |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Opinion ou croyance désavantageuse, accompagnée de doute. | Participe passé masculin singulier de soupçonner. |
Where the eye mixes soupçon and soupçonné
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soupçon runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against soupçonné's 9 (CVVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: soupçon vs soupçonné
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soupçon is \sup.sɔ̃\ while soupçonné is \sup.sɔ.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “soupçon” sits inside “soupçonné”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soupçon is recorded at frequency rank #13,481, classified as anoun, pronounced \sup.sɔ̃\. soupçonné is at rank #12,258, tagged as averb, pronounced \sup.sɔ.ne\.
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 25739, this pair ranks #339,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soupçon vs soupçonné
Shared letters: nopsuç. Private to "soupçon": -. Private to "soupçonné": é.
"soupçon" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "soupçonné" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soupçon" for "soupçonné" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "soupçon" or "soupçonné" 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 "soupçon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soupçonné" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #339,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupçon" and "soupçonné" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soupçonné vs soupçonnées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #339,124 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.