Which to use
“sultry” and “sundry” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,485
- “sultry” frequency rank
- #39,123
- “sundry” frequency rank
- 68608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sultry | sundry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hot and humid; sweltering. | More than one or two but not very many; a number of, several. |
Where the eye mixes sultry and sundry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sultry and sundry follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses sultry with sundry
A purely visual mix-up. sultry (/ˈsʌltɹi/) and sundry (/ˈsʌnd.ɹi/) 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 68608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sultry is recorded at frequency rank #29,485, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsʌltɹi/. sundry is at rank #39,123, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsʌnd.ɹi/.
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 68608, this pair ranks #58,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sultry vs sundry
Shared letters: rsuy. Private to "sultry": lt. Private to "sundry": dn.
"sultry" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "sundry" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sultry" for "sundry" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sultry" vs "sundry" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sultry" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sundry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sultry" and "sundry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sundry vs surry". 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 #58,127 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.