Which to use
“souvent” is an adverb and “suivent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #269
- “souvent” frequency rank
- #3,042
- “suivent” frequency rank
- 3311
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souvent | suivent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Un grand nombre de fois, avec fréquence. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif du verbe suivre. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set souvent and suivent apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
souvent and suivent form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souvent is recorded at frequency rank #269, classified as anadv, pronounced \su.vɑ̃\. suivent is at rank #3,042, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥiv\.
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 3311, this pair ranks #434,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "souvent" and "suivent" be used interchangeably?
Remembering souvent vs suivent
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “souvent”; for a verb, it's “suivent”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “souvent” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable