Which to use
“soupe” and “south” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,893
- “soupe” frequency rank
- #10,586
- “south” frequency rank
- 15479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soupe | south |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pain que l’on trempe dans le potage. | Sud. |
Where the eye mixes soupe and south
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between soupe and south
A purely visual mix-up. soupe (\sup\) and south (\ˈsaʊθ\) 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 15479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soupe is recorded at frequency rank #4,893, classified as anoun, pronounced \sup\. south is at rank #10,586, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsaʊθ\.
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 15479, this pair ranks #392,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soupe vs south
Shared letters: osu. Private to "soupe": ep. Private to "south": ht.
"soupe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "south" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soupe" and "south" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "soupe" vs "south" - which ranks higher?
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 "soupe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "south" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soupe" and "south" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Soult vs south". 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 #392,187 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.