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PlainSpell

sure

/ʃɔː/adjective, adverb, interjection

sure is spelled S-U-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 468 times per million words in written English, the 203rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sure means “Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in sure?

Letters4: S-U-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing468 times per million words; the 203rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sure?

Sure appears 468 times per million words in written English, the 203rd most frequent word form in the list.

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

How do you pronounce sure?

  • /ʃɔː/
  • /ʃʊə/
  • British /ʃoː/

Sure has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sure.ogg, En-us-sure2.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with sure

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

shore vs sure0 B

Sounds like: shaw, shore (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with sure?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: user, ruse, suer.

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 sure

  • surer comparative
  • surest superlative
  • sho
  • sho'
  • more sure comparative
  • most sure superlative

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

What does sure mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

    This investment is a sure thing.

  2. 2

    Certain in one's knowledge or belief.

    Roy: I'm 95% sure it was him. Jen: You... you said you were 99% sure. Roy: I'm 97% sure it was him.

  3. 3

    Certain to act or be a specified way.

    Be sure to lock the door when you leave.

  4. 4

    Certain to obtain something.

    Many people book early in order to be sure of the best seats.

  5. 5

    obsoleteFree from danger; safe; secure.

  6. 6

    obsoleteBetrothed; engaged to marry.

adverb

  1. 1

    Without doubt, certainly.

    Sure he's coming! Why wouldn't he?

  2. 2

    archaicWithout fail, surely.

interjection

  1. 1

    Yes; of course.

    "Could you tell me where the washrooms are?" "Sure, they're in the corner over there."

  2. 2

    Yes; I guess; you could say that; a weak or noncommittal positive response.

    "Do you like cats?" "Sure."

  3. 3

    You're welcome; polite response to being thanked.

    "Thanks for helping me with that electrical fault." "Sure. Any time."

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

Sure in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsûr, sûre, certain (certain, reliable), d'accord (noncommittal yes), bien sûr (of course)
Germansicher, stichhaltig, hieb- und stichfest, wasserdicht (certain, reliable)
Portuguesecerto, seguro (certain, reliable), tá, claro, tudo bem (of course)
Spanishseguro, cierto (certain, reliable), por supuesto, claro (of course), tener claro, no dudarlo (certain in one's knowledge or belief)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does sure come from?

From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (“apart”) + cūra (“care”) (compare Old English orsorg (“carefree”), from or- (“without”) + sorg (“care”)). See cure. Doublet of secure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker (“certain, safe”). Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English ġewis, ġewiss (“certain, sure”)), as well as Middle English siker (“sure, secure”) (from Old English sicor (“secure, sure”)) with which it was cognate.

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

What to look up after sure