Which to use
“souvenu” and “souviens” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,880
- “souvenu” frequency rank
- #2,251
- “souviens” frequency rank
- 29131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souvenu | souviens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de souvenir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de souvenir. |
Where the eye mixes souvenu and souviens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. souvenu runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against souviens's 8 (CVVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses souvenu with souviens
A purely visual mix-up. souvenu (\su.və.ny\) and souviens (\su.vjɛ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souvenu is recorded at frequency rank #26,880, classified as averb, pronounced \su.və.ny\. souviens is at rank #2,251, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.vjɛ̃\.
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 29131, this pair ranks #318,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of souvenu vs souviens
Shared letters: enosuv. Private to "souvenu": -. Private to "souviens": i.
"souvenu" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "souviens" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "souvenu" and "souviens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "souvenu" or "souviens"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "souvenu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "souviens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #318,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souvenu" and "souviens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sauvent vs souvenu". 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 #318,565 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.