Which to use
“soutenir” is a verb and “souvenirs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,936
- “soutenir” frequency rank
- #2,200
- “souvenirs” frequency rank
- 4136
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soutenir | souvenirs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Porter ; supporter ; maintenir. | Pluriel de souvenir. |
Where the eye mixes soutenir and souvenirs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soutenir runs 8 letters (CVVCVCVC) against souvenirs's 9 (CVVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: soutenir vs souvenirs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soutenir is \sut.niʁ\ while souvenirs is \suv.niʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soutenir is recorded at frequency rank #1,936, classified as averb, pronounced \sut.niʁ\. souvenirs is at rank #2,200, tagged as anoun, pronounced \suv.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 4136, this pair ranks #432,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soutenir vs souvenirs
Shared letters: einorsu. Private to "soutenir": t. Private to "souvenirs": v.
"soutenir" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC · "souvenirs" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "soutenir" and "souvenirs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "soutenir" or "souvenirs" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "souvenirs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soutenir" and "souvenirs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souvenirs vs souvenons". 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 #432,357 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.