slursvssureWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: slurs is a verb, sure is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“slurs” is a verb and “sure” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,905
“slurs” frequency rank
#202
“sure” frequency rank
25107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature slurs sure
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of slur Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

Letter map: slurs vs sure

Shared letters muted; letters that set slurs and sure apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
slurs
4 ch
sure

Grammar separator: slurs vs sure

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: slurs is averb and sureanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

slurs is recorded at frequency rank #24,905, classified as averb. sure is at rank #202, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɔː(ɹ)/.

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 25107, this pair ranks #396,875 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of slurs vs sure

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "slurs": l. Private to "sure": e.

"slurs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • slurslsurs · sllurs · slrus · slurrs · slurss · slusr · sslurs · sulrs
  • suresrue · ssure · suer · surre · usre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "slurs" and "sure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "slurs" is a verb and "sure" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "slurs" vs "sure" - which ranks higher?
"sure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #202 in our English list, against #24,905 for "slurs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "slurs" and "sure". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "slurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,875 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "slurs" and "sure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slurs 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 #396,875 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