soupervsstopperWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“souper” and “stopper” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,135
“souper” frequency rank
#8,468
“stopper” frequency rank
19603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature souper stopper
Definition , , , Prendre le repas du soir. Arrêter, en parlant d’un navire à moteur, d’un train, d’une machine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set souper and stopper apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
souper
7 ch
stopper

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. souper (\su.pe\) and stopper (\stɔ.pe\) 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 19603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

souper is recorded at frequency rank #11,135, classified as averb, pronounced \su.pe\. stopper is at rank #8,468, tagged as averb, pronounced \stɔ.pe\.

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 19603, this pair ranks #372,445 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of souper vs stopper

Shared letters: eoprs. Private to "souper": u. Private to "stopper": t.

"souper" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "stopper" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • souperosuper · sopuer · souepr · souperr · soupper · soupre · ssouper · suoper
  • stoppersotpper · sstopper · stopepr · stoper · stopperr · stoppre · stpoper · sttopper

Frequency comparison

souper#11,135
stopper#8,468

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "souper" and "stopper" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\su.pe\ versus \stɔ.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "souper" or "stopper"?
"stopper" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,468 in our French list, against #11,135 for "souper". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering souper vs stopper

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “souper” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list