soutenuvssoutenuesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“soutenu” and “soutenues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,644
“soutenu” frequency rank
#18,600
“soutenues” frequency rank
22244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soutenu soutenues
Definition Caractère constamment élevé dans l’expression orale ou écrite, emprunt de noblesse. Féminin pluriel de soutenu.

Where the eye mixes soutenu and soutenues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soutenu runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against soutenues's 9 (CVVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
soutenu
9 ch
soutenues

Why the eye confuses soutenu with soutenues

A purely visual mix-up. soutenu (\sut.ny\) and soutenues (\su.tə.ny\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “soutenu” sits inside “soutenues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soutenu is recorded at frequency rank #3,644, classified as anadj, pronounced \sut.ny\. soutenues is at rank #18,600, 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 22244, this pair ranks #359,066 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of soutenu vs soutenues

Shared letters: enostu. Private to "soutenu": -. Private to "soutenues": -.

"soutenu" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "soutenues" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soutenu ← osutenu · sotuenu · souetnu · soutennu · souteun · soutneu · souttenu · ssoutenu
  • soutenues ← osutenues · sotuenues · souetnues · souteneus · soutennues · soutenuess · soutenuse · souteunes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "soutenu" for "soutenues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sut.ny\ versus \su.tə.ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "soutenu" or "soutenues"?
"soutenu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,644 in our French list, against #18,600 for "soutenues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "soutenu" and "soutenues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "soutenu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "soutenues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #359,066 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soutenu" and "soutenues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soutane vs soutenu". 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 #359,066 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list