Which to use
“suspicions” is a noun and “suspicious” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,286
- “suspicions” frequency rank
- #6,189
- “suspicious” frequency rank
- 21475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspicions | suspicious |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of suspicion | Arousing suspicion. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set suspicions and suspicious apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
suspicions and suspicious form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - n in “suspicions” becomes u in “suspicious” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspicions is recorded at frequency rank #15,286, classified as anoun, pronounced /səˈspɪʃənz/. suspicious is at rank #6,189, tagged as anadj, pronounced /səˈspɪʃ.əs/.
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 21475, this pair ranks #423,622 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "suspicions" and "suspicious" be used interchangeably?
Remembering suspicions vs suspicious
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “suspicions”; for an adjective, it's “suspicious”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “suspicions” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable