Which to use
“soutenait” and “soutenir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,880
- “soutenait” frequency rank
- #1,936
- “soutenir” frequency rank
- 20816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soutenait | soutenir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de soutenir. | Porter ; supporter ; maintenir. |
Where the eye mixes soutenait and soutenir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soutenait runs 9 letters (CVVCVCVVC) against soutenir's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses soutenait with soutenir
A purely visual mix-up. soutenait (\su.tə.nɛ\) and soutenir (\sut.niʁ\) 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 20816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soutenait is recorded at frequency rank #18,880, classified as averb, pronounced \su.tə.nɛ\. soutenir is at rank #1,936, tagged as averb, pronounced \sut.niʁ\.
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 20816, this pair ranks #366,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soutenait vs soutenir
Shared letters: einostu. Private to "soutenait": a. Private to "soutenir": r.
"soutenait" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC · "soutenir" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "soutenait" and "soutenir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "soutenait" vs "soutenir" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soutenait" and "soutenir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soutenait vs souvenant". 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 #366,354 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.