Which to use
“shut” is a verb and “sous” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,728
- “shut” frequency rank
- #29,337
- “sous” frequency rank
- 77065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | sous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schließen | unter (unterhalb von) |
Where the eye mixes shut and sous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: shut vs sous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shut is [ʃʌt] while sous is [su]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shut is recorded at frequency rank #47,728, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃʌt]. sous is at rank #29,337, tagged as aprep, pronounced [su].
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 77065, this pair ranks #269,310 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs sous
Shared letters: su. Private to "shut": ht. Private to "sous": o.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shut" for "sous" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "shut" or "sous" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shut" and "sous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,310 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "sous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schütt vs shut". 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 #269,310 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.