Which to use
“soutenez” and “soutenir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,879
- “soutenez” frequency rank
- #1,936
- “soutenir” frequency rank
- 28815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soutenez | soutenir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de soutenir. | Porter ; supporter ; maintenir. |
Where the eye mixes soutenez and soutenir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. soutenez and soutenir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses soutenez with soutenir
A purely visual mix-up. soutenez (\su.tə.ne\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soutenez is recorded at frequency rank #26,879, classified as averb, pronounced \su.tə.ne\. 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 28815, this pair ranks #320,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soutenez vs soutenir
Shared letters: enostu. Private to "soutenez": z. Private to "soutenir": ir.
"soutenez" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC · "soutenir" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "soutenez" and "soutenir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "soutenez" or "soutenir" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenez" 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 #320,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soutenez" and "soutenir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soutane vs soutenez". 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 #320,528 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.