Which to use
“sous” is a noun and “sup” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,213
- “sous” frequency rank
- #13,818
- “sup” frequency rank
- 39031
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sous | sup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of sou | To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon. |
Where the eye mixes sous and sup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sous vs sup
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sous is /suːz/ while sup is /sʌp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sous is recorded at frequency rank #25,213, classified as anoun, pronounced /suːz/. sup is at rank #13,818, tagged as averb, pronounced /sʌp/.
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 39031, this pair ranks #280,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sous vs sup
Shared letters: su. Private to "sous": o. Private to "sup": p.
"sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sous ← osus · sosu · souss · ssous · suos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sous" for "sup" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "sous" or "sup" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sous" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sous vs suds". 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 #280,497 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.