Which to use
“section” and “suction” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,097
- “section” frequency rank
- #18,197
- “suction” frequency rank
- 19294
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | section | suction |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something. | A force which pushes matter from one space into another because the pressure inside the second space is lower than the pressure in the first. |
Where the eye mixes section and suction
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses section with suction
A purely visual mix-up. section (/ˈsɛkʃən/) and suction (/ˈsʌkʃən/) 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 a single letter - e in “section” becomes u in “suction”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
section is recorded at frequency rank #1,097, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛkʃən/. suction is at rank #18,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsʌkʃən/.
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 19294, this pair ranks #439,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of section vs suction
Shared letters: cinost. Private to "section": e. Private to "suction": u.
"section" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "suction" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "section" for "suction" ever safe?
Frequency check: "section" vs "suction" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "section" and "suction" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "section" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suction" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "section" and "suction" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scion vs suction". 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 #439,170 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.