Which to use
“suds” and “sum” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,655
- “suds” frequency rank
- #4,050
- “sum” frequency rank
- 53705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suds | sum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lather; foam or froth formed by mixing soap and water. | A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation. |
Where the eye mixes suds and sum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: suds vs sum
A purely visual mix-up. suds (/sʌdz/) and sum (/sʌm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suds is recorded at frequency rank #49,655, classified as anoun, pronounced /sʌdz/. sum is at rank #4,050, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sʌm/.
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 53705, this pair ranks #146,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suds vs sum
Shared letters: su. Private to "suds": d. Private to "sum": m.
"suds" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- suds ← sdus · ssuds · sudds · sudss · susd · usds
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suds" for "sum" ever safe?
Frequency check: "suds" vs "sum" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "suds" and "sum" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "suds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suds" and "sum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suds 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 #146,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.