Which to use
“soutenons” is a verb and “soutenus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,359
- “soutenons” frequency rank
- #12,481
- “soutenus” frequency rank
- 40840
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soutenons | soutenus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de soutenir. | Masculin pluriel de soutenu. |
Where the eye mixes soutenons and soutenus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soutenons runs 9 letters (CVVCVCVCC) against soutenus's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses soutenons with soutenus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soutenons is \su.tə.nɔ̃\ while soutenus is \su.tə.ny\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soutenons is recorded at frequency rank #28,359, classified as averb, pronounced \su.tə.nɔ̃\. soutenus is at rank #12,481, tagged as anadj, pronounced \su.tə.ny\.
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 40840, this pair ranks #237,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soutenons vs soutenus
Shared letters: enostu. Private to "soutenons": -. Private to "soutenus": -.
"soutenons" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVCC · "soutenus" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "soutenons" and "soutenus" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "soutenons" or "soutenus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soutenus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soutenons" and "soutenus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soutenons 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 #237,498 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.