shunvssupWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,359
“shun” frequency rank
#13,818
“sup” frequency rank
35177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shun sup
Definition To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize. To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon.

Where the eye mixes shun and sup

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
shun
3 ch
sup

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. shun (/ʃʌn/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shun is recorded at frequency rank #21,359, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʌn/. 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 35177, this pair ranks #314,255 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shun vs sup

Shared letters: su. Private to "shun": hn. Private to "sup": p.

"shun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shunhsun · shhun · shnu · shunn · sshun · suhn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shun" and "sup" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ʃʌn/ versus /sʌp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "shun" or "sup"?
"sup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,818 in our English list, against #21,359 for "shun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "shun" and "sup". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shun" 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 #314,255 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shun" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shana vs shun". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list