Which to use
“sais” is a noun and “sus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #188
- “sais” frequency rank
- #12,488
- “sus” frequency rank
- 12676
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sais | sus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En Inde, palefrenier qui accompagne son maître lors de ses sorties à cheval. | Dessus. |
Where the eye mixes sais and sus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sais and sus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sais is \sɛ\ while sus is \sys\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sais is recorded at frequency rank #188, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛ\. sus is at rank #12,488, tagged as anadv, pronounced \sys\.
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 12676, this pair ranks #404,271 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sais vs sus
Shared letters: s. Private to "sais": ai. Private to "sus": u.
"sais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sais ← asis · saiss · sasi · sias · ssais
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sais" for "sus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sais" or "sus"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,271 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sais" and "sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sus vs suu". 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 #404,271 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.