# ssh vs su

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### ssh
*name · frequency rank #24,914*
A program and protocol for securely logging in to and running programs on remote machines across a network, with encryption to protect the transferred information and authentication to ensure that the remote machine is the one desired.

### su
*noun · frequency rank #8,094*
Alternative form of xu (“former Vietnamese currency”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ssh-vs-su