saufvssuuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sauf” and “suu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#661
“sauf” frequency rank
#49,960
“suu” frequency rank
50621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sauf suu
Definition Qui n’a pas reçu d’atteinte, qui a échappé au péril. Son.

Where the eye mixes sauf and suu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sauf
3 ch
suu

Look-alike desk: sauf vs suu

A purely visual mix-up. sauf (\sof\) and suu (\ˈsuː\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sauf is recorded at frequency rank #661, classified as anadj, pronounced \sof\. suu is at rank #49,960, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈsuː\.

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 50621, this pair ranks #161,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sauf vs suu

Shared letters: su. Private to "sauf": af. Private to "suu": -.

"sauf" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "suu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saufasuf · safu · sauff · ssauf · suaf

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sauf" and "suu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sof\ versus \ˈsuː\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sauf" or "suu"?
"sauf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #661 in our French list, against #49,960 for "suu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "sauf" and "suu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sauf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sauf" and "suu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SSR 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 #161,201 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list