Son or sun?
son is a noun meaning “One's male offspring”; sun is a noun meaning “A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system”. They sound the same (/sʌn/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) son is about 2.0 times as common as sun.
What is the difference between son and sun?
| son | sun | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, suffix, phrase | noun, verb |
| Meaning | One's male offspring A male adopted person in relation to his adoptive parents To produce (i.e. bear, father, beget) a son | A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system The light and heat which are received from the Sun; sunshine or sunlight To expose to the heat and radiation of the sun |
| Example | Before the birth of the man's child, he said: "I want a son, not a daughter." | I have been broiling in the sun all morning |
| Forms | sons | suns |
| Pronunciation | /sʌn/ /sʊn/ /sɒn/ | /sʌn/ /sʊn/ |
| In writing | 191 times per million words | 93 times per million words |
Sources: son and sun in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of son and sun
son
- 1
One's male offspring
Before the birth of the man's child, he said: "I want a son, not a daughter."
- 2
To produce (i.e. bear, father, beget) a son
- 3
Son cubano, a genre of music and dance blending Spanish and African elements that originated in Cuba during the late 19th century
- 4
Added to a stem (usually a given name or surname) to form a patronymic or matronymic surname
- 5
Initialism of supraoptic nucleus
- 6
Initialism of socked on the nose
- 7
A male adopted person in relation to his adoptive parents
- 8
To address (someone) as "son"
sun
- 1
A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system
- 2
To expose to the heat and radiation of the sun
Beautiful bodies lying on the beach, sunning their bronzed limbs
- 3
A traditional Japanese unit of length, approximately 30.3 millimetres (1.193 inches)
- 4
Alternative form of sunn (“the plant”)
- 5
Abbreviation of Sunday
- 6
Abbreviation of Sunday
- 7
The light and heat which are received from the Sun; sunshine or sunlight
I have been broiling in the sun all morning
- 8
To warm or dry in the sunshine
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, son or sun?
son appears 191 times per million words; sun 93 times per million words.
son 191 times per million wordssun 93 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search son vs sun?
“son vs sun” is searched about 110 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“sun vs son”, “son or sun”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.