sub

/sʌb/noun, verb, preposition

sub is spelled S-U-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sub means “Abbreviation of submarine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sub is subs.

How many letters and syllables are in sub?

Letters	3: S-U-B
Syllables	1
In writing	46 times per million words; the 2,204th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Same letters	bus

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sub?

Sub appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th most frequent word form in the list.

sub0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce sub?

/sʌb/
/sʊb/

Sub has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sub.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst-sub-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with sub

Also written: subscription.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with sub?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sub.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: bus.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sub

subs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
subbing participle, present
subbed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sub mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

1
Abbreviation of submarine.
2
Clipping of submarine sandwich: a sandwich made on a long bun.
We can get subs at that deli.
3
Clipping of submersible.
4
informalClipping of substitute, often in sports or teaching.
With the score 4 to 1, they brought in subs.
5
UKinformalClipping of subscription (“a payment made for membership of a club, etc.”).
6
informalClipping of subtitle
I've just noticed a mistake in the subs for this film.
7
Clipping of subroutine (sometimes one that does not return a value, as distinguished from a function, which does)
8
colloquialClipping of subeditor

verb

1
USinformalTo substitute for.
2
USinformalTo work as a substitute teacher, especially in primary and secondary education.
3
UKinformalTo replace (a player) with a substitute.
He never really made a contribution to the match, so it was no surprise when he was subbed at half time.
4
UKinformalTo bring on (a player) as a substitute.
He was subbed on half way through the second half, and scored within minutes.
5
UKTo perform the work of a subeditor or copy editor; to subedit.
6
slangTo subtitle (usually a film or television program).
7
UKslangTo lend (a person) money.
8
slangTo subscribe.
9
To coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating.
10
To prepare (a slide) with a layer of transparent substance to support and/or fix the sample.

preposition

1
Under.