Which to use
“soutenaient” and “soutenait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,378
- “soutenaient” frequency rank
- #18,880
- “soutenait” frequency rank
- 49258
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soutenaient | soutenait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de soutenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de soutenir. |
Same sound, different letters: soutenaient vs soutenait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. soutenaient runs 11 letters (CVVCVCVVVCC) against soutenait's 9 (CVVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: soutenaient vs soutenait
This is the hard kind. soutenaient and soutenait are pronounced identically (\su.tə.nɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soutenaient is recorded at frequency rank #30,378, classified as averb, pronounced \su.tə.nɛ\. soutenait is at rank #18,880, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.tə.nɛ\.
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 49258, this pair ranks #172,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soutenaient vs soutenait
Shared letters: aeinostu. Private to "soutenaient": -. Private to "soutenait": -.
"soutenaient" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCVVVCC · "soutenait" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- soutenaient ← osutenaient · sotuenaient · souetnaient · souteanient · soutenaeint · soutenaiennt · soutenaientt · soutenaietn
- soutenait ← osutenait · sotuenait · souetnait · souteanit · soutenaitt · soutenati · souteniat · soutennait
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soutenaient" and "soutenait" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "soutenaient" vs "soutenait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"soutenaient" and "soutenait" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soutenaient" and "soutenait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soutenaient vs soutènement". 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 #172,107 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.