Which to use
“shut” is a verb and “suh” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,738
- “shut” frequency rank
- #30,248
- “suh” frequency rank
- 31986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | suh |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To close, in various senses. | Pronunciation spelling of sir, usually to suggest the speech of African-American slaves. |
Letter map: shut vs suh
Shared letters muted; letters that set shut and suh apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for shut / suh
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shut is averb and suhanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31986, 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/. suh is at rank #30,248, 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 31986, this pair ranks #341,557 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs suh
Shared letters: hsu. Private to "shut": t. Private to "suh": -.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "suh" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- shut ← hsut · shhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shut" and "suh" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "shut" or "suh"?
After this comparison
Pair "shut" vs "suh" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #341,557 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "suh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suh 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 #341,557 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.