soutenuvssoutenusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,644
“soutenu” frequency rank
#12,481
“soutenus” frequency rank
16125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes soutenu and soutenus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. soutenu runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against soutenus's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
soutenu
8 ch
soutenus

Why the eye confuses soutenu with soutenus

A purely visual mix-up. soutenu (\sut.ny\) and soutenus (\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 1 extra letter(s) - “soutenu” sits inside “soutenus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16125, 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\. 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 16125, this pair ranks #389,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of soutenu vs soutenus

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

"soutenu" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "soutenus" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soutenu ← osutenu · sotuenu · souetnu · soutennu · souteun · soutneu · souttenu · ssoutenu
  • soutenus ← osutenus · sotuenus · souetnus · soutennus · soutensu · soutenuss · souteuns · soutneus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "soutenu" and "soutenus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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 "soutenus"?
"soutenu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,644 in our French list, against #12,481 for "soutenus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "soutenu" 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 #389,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soutenu" and "soutenus" 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 #389,267 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