Which to use
“soy” and “ste” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,027
- “soy” frequency rank
- #10,412
- “ste” frequency rank
- 50439
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soy | ste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de ser (« être »). | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de stare. |
Where the eye mixes soy and ste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: soy vs ste
A purely visual mix-up. soy (\ˈsoi̯\) and ste (\ˈstɛ\) 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 50439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soy is recorded at frequency rank #40,027, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈsoi̯\. ste is at rank #10,412, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈstɛ\.
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 50439, this pair ranks #162,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soy vs ste
Shared letters: s. Private to "soy": oy. Private to "ste": et.
"soy" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "soy" and "ste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "soy" or "ste" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "soy" and "ste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "soy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soy" and "ste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soy vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #162,630 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.