Which to use
“suki” and “sumo” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,926
- “suki” frequency rank
- #26,985
- “sumo” frequency rank
- 69911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suki | sumo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a favored customer; a regular who receives preferential treatment | A stylised Japanese form of wrestling in which a wrestler loses if he is forced from the ring, or if any part of his body except the soles of his feet touches the ground. |
Where the eye mixes suki and sumo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. suki and sumo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: suki vs sumo
A purely visual mix-up. suki (/ˈsu.kɪʔ/) and sumo (/ˈsuːməʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suki is recorded at frequency rank #42,926, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsu.kɪʔ/. sumo is at rank #26,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsuːməʊ/.
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 69911, this pair ranks #52,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of suki vs sumo
Shared letters: su. Private to "suki": ik. Private to "sumo": mo.
"suki" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sumo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "suki" and "sumo" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "suki" vs "sumo" - 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 "suki" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sumo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suki" and "sumo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suki 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 #52,648 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.