Which to use
“spud” is a noun and “sup” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,419
- “spud” frequency rank
- #13,818
- “sup” frequency rank
- 56237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spud | sup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A potato. | To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon. |
Where the eye mixes spud and sup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between spud and sup
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spud is /spʌd/ 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 56237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spud is recorded at frequency rank #42,419, classified as anoun, pronounced /spʌd/. 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 56237, this pair ranks #127,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spud vs sup
Shared letters: psu. Private to "spud": d. Private to "sup": -.
"spud" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- spud ← psud · spdu · sppud · spudd · sspud · supd
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spud" and "sup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "spud" vs "sup" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "spud" 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 #127,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spud" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spud 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 #127,731 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.