Which to use
“shut” is a verb and “su” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,738
- “shut” frequency rank
- #8,094
- “su” frequency rank
- 9832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | su |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To close, in various senses. | Alternative form of xu (“former Vietnamese currency”). |
Letter map: shut vs su
Shared letters muted; letters that set shut and su apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - shut and su
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shut is averb and suanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shut is recorded at frequency rank #1,738, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʌt/. su is at rank #8,094, tagged as anoun.
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 9832, this pair ranks #495,359 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs su
Shared letters: su. Private to "shut": ht. Private to "su": -.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "su" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- shut ← hsut · shhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shut" and "su" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "shut" vs "su" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "shut" and "su". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #495,359 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "su vs sura". 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 #495,359 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.