soutenuvssoutiensWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: soutenu is a adjective, soutiens is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“soutenu” is an adjective and “soutiens” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,644
“soutenu” frequency rank
#6,032
“soutiens” frequency rank
9676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soutenu soutiens
Definition Caractère constamment élevé dans l’expression orale ou écrite, emprunt de noblesse. Pluriel de soutien.

Where the eye mixes soutenu and soutiens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. soutenu runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against soutiens's 8 (CVVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
soutenu
8 ch
soutiens

Look-alike desk: soutenu vs soutiens

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soutenu is \sut.ny\ while soutiens is \su.tjɛ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9676, 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\. soutiens is at rank #6,032, tagged as anoun, pronounced \su.tjɛ̃\.

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 9676, this pair ranks #415,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of soutenu vs soutiens

Shared letters: enostu. Private to "soutenu": -. Private to "soutiens": i.

"soutenu" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "soutiens" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soutenu ← osutenu · sotuenu · souetnu · soutennu · souteun · soutneu · souttenu · ssoutenu
  • soutiens ← osutiens · sotuiens · souitens · souteins · soutienns · soutienss · soutiesn · soutines

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "soutenu" and "soutiens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "soutenu" is an adjective and "soutiens" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "soutenu" vs "soutiens" - which ranks higher?
"soutenu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,644 in our French list, against #6,032 for "soutiens". 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 "soutiens" 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 "soutiens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #415,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soutenu" and "soutiens" 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 #415,826 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