sezvssupWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sez” and “sup” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,041
“sez” frequency rank
#13,818
“sup” frequency rank
62859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sez sup
Definition Eye dialect spelling of says. To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon.

Where the eye mixes sez and sup

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
sez
3 ch
sup

Why the eye confuses sez with sup

A purely visual mix-up. sez (/sɛz/) and sup (/sʌp/) 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 62859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sez is recorded at frequency rank #49,041, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛz/. sup is at rank #13,818, tagged as averb, pronounced /sʌp/.

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 62859, this pair ranks #86,155 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sez vs sup

Shared letters: s. Private to "sez": ez. Private to "sup": pu.

"sez" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sez" and "sup" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/sɛz/ versus /sʌp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sez" vs "sup" - which ranks higher?
"sup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,818 in our English list, against #49,041 for "sez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,155 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sez" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sez vs Sif". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #86,155 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list