Which to use
“souviennent” and “surviennent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,327
- “souviennent” frequency rank
- #20,288
- “surviennent” frequency rank
- 38615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souviennent | surviennent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de souvenir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de survenir. |
Where the eye mixes souviennent and surviennent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. souviennent (CVVCVVCCVCC) and surviennent (CVCCVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: souviennent vs surviennent
A purely visual mix-up. souviennent (\su.vjɛn\) and surviennent (\syʁ.vjɛn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souviennent is recorded at frequency rank #18,327, classified as averb, pronounced \su.vjɛn\. surviennent is at rank #20,288, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.vjɛn\.
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 38615, this pair ranks #254,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of souviennent vs surviennent
Shared letters: einstuv. Private to "souviennent": o. Private to "surviennent": r.
"souviennent" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVVCCVCC · "surviennent" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- souviennent ← osuviennent · souivennent · souveinnent · souvienennt · souvienent · souviennennt · souviennentt · souviennetn
- surviennent ← sruviennent · ssurviennent · surivennent · surrviennent · surveinnent · survienennt · survienent · surviennennt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souviennent" for "surviennent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "souviennent" or "surviennent" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "souviennent" and "surviennent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "souviennent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surviennent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #254,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souviennent" and "surviennent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surprennent vs surviennent". 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 #254,027 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.