Which to use
“smug” is an adjective and “Sus” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,467
- “smug” frequency rank
- #27,667
- “Sus” frequency rank
- 47134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smug | Sus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied. | Synonym of Shush (“city in Khuzestan, Iran”). |
Letter map: smug vs Sus
Shared letters muted; letters that set smug and Sus apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for smug / Sus
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: smug is anadjective and Susaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smug is recorded at frequency rank #19,467, classified as anadj, pronounced /smʌɡ/. Sus is at rank #27,667, tagged as aname.
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 47134, this pair ranks #205,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of smug vs Sus
Shared letters: su. Private to "smug": gm. Private to "Sus": -.
"smug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- smug ← msug · smgu · smmug · smugg · ssmug · sumg
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "smug" for "Sus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "smug" vs "Sus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "smug" and "Sus". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "smug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smug" and "Sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sura vs Sus". 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 #205,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.