spunvssuWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: spun is a verb, su is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spun” is a verb and “su” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,799
“spun” frequency rank
#8,094
“su” frequency rank
19893
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spun su
Definition simple past and past participle of spin Alternative form of xu (“former Vietnamese currency”).

Letter map: spun vs su

Shared letters muted; letters that set spun and su apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
spun
2 ch
su

Role in the sentence - spun and su

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spun is averb and suanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spun is recorded at frequency rank #11,799, classified as averb, pronounced /spʌn/. su is at rank #8,094, tagged as anoun.

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 19893, this pair ranks #434,977 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spun vs su

Shared letters: su. Private to "spun": np. Private to "su": -.

"spun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "su" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spunpsun · spnu · sppun · spunn · sspun · supn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "spun" and "su" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spun" is a verb and "su" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "spun" vs "su" - which ranks higher?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,094 in our English list, against #11,799 for "spun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "spun" and "su".

  • Full dictionary entry for "spun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,977 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spun" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "su 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 #434,977 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