Which to use
“sump” and “suns” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,400
- “sump” frequency rank
- #13,249
- “suns” frequency rank
- 54649
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sump | suns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink. | plural of sun |
Where the eye mixes sump and suns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sump and suns follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between sump and suns
A purely visual mix-up. sump (/sʌmp/) and suns (/sʌnz/) 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 54649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sump is recorded at frequency rank #41,400, classified as anoun, pronounced /sʌmp/. suns is at rank #13,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sʌnz/.
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 54649, this pair ranks #139,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sump vs suns
Shared letters: su. Private to "sump": mp. Private to "suns": n.
"sump" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "suns" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sump" and "suns" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sump" or "suns"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sump" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #139,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sump" and "suns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sump 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 #139,463 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.