seavssuuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sea is a noun, suu is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sea” is a noun and “suu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,258
“sea” frequency rank
#49,960
“suu” frequency rank
63218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sea suu
Definition Mer. Son.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sea and suu apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
sea
3 ch
suu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sea is \siː\ while suu is \ˈsuː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sea is recorded at frequency rank #13,258, classified as anoun, pronounced \siː\. 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 63218, this pair ranks #83,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sea vs suu

Shared letters: s. Private to "sea": ae. Private to "suu": u.

"sea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "suu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

sea#13,258
suu#49,960

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sea" and "suu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sea" is a noun and "suu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sea" or "suu"?
"sea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,258 in our French list, against #49,960 for "suu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sea vs suu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “sea”; for an adjective, it's “suu”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sea” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list