sue
/sjuː/
"sue" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sue” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,985) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #4,985
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal (civil) action.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sue · sue · English
sue · rank #4,985 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,985
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH streaming
Nearest frequency peer: streaming (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sue”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- slight
slight
95,019 corpus weight
- socialist
socialist
95,018 corpus weight
- streaming
streaming
95,017 corpus weight
- sue
sue
95,016 corpus weight
- targeted
targeted
95,015 corpus weight
- tension
tension
95,014 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sue” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /sjuː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #4,985 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sue” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for sue is neighbouring look-alikes ("SW", "SV", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /sjuː/. Frequency #4,985 among 6,566 “S” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sue, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "SW", "SV", "Sy", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English seuen, sewen, siwen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suer, siwer et al. and Old French sivre (“to follow after”) (modern French suivre), from Vulgar Latin *sequere (“to follow”), from Latin sequi. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish segu… The correct English form is sue, spelled S-U-E.
Definition
- 1To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal (civil) action.
- 2To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
- 3To clean (the beak, etc.).
- 4To leave high and dry on shore.
- 5To court.
- 6To follow.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
sue someone for selling a faulty product
I plan to sue you for everything you have.
Etymology
From Middle English seuen, sewen, siwen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suer, siwer et al. and Old French sivre (“to follow after”) (modern French suivre), from Vulgar Latin *sequere (“to follow”), from Latin sequi. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Doublet of segue. Related to suit.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "sue"?
What does "sue" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sue"?
How do you pronounce "sue"?
What is the origin of the word "sue"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sue", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "sue". Here's where to go from here.
- "sue" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "SW". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #4,985 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.