STAvssueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: STA is a name, sue is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“STA” is a name and “sue” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,212
“STA” frequency rank
#4,985
“sue” frequency rank
24197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature STA sue
Definition Initialism of State Transport Authority. To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal (civil) action.

Letter map: STA vs sue

Shared letters muted; letters that set STA and sue apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
STA
3 ch
sue

Grammar separator: STA vs sue

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: STA is aname and sueaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

STA is recorded at frequency rank #19,212, classified as aname. sue is at rank #4,985, tagged as averb, pronounced /sjuː/.

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 24197, this pair ranks #403,766 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of STA vs sue

Shared letters: s. Private to "STA": at. Private to "sue": eu.

"STA" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "sue" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "STA" for "sue" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "STA" is a name and "sue" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "STA" or "sue"?
"sue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,985 in our English list, against #19,212 for "STA". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "STA" vs "sue" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "STA" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,766 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "STA" and "sue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "STA vs sura". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #403,766 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