SHvssucWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,183
“SH” frequency rank
#44,755
“suc” frequency rank
70938
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature SH suc
Definition Sens horaire. Liquide organique animal.

Where the eye mixes SH and suc

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
SH
3 ch
suc

Look-alike desk: SH vs suc

A purely visual mix-up. SH (\sɑ̃.s‿ɔ.ʁɛʁ\) and suc (\syk\) 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 70938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

SH is recorded at frequency rank #26,183, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃.s‿ɔ.ʁɛʁ\. suc is at rank #44,755, tagged as anoun, pronounced \syk\.

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 70938, this pair ranks #49,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of SH vs suc

Shared letters: s. Private to "SH": h. Private to "suc": cu.

"SH" · 2 letters · shape CC  ·  "suc" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "SH" for "suc" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.s‿ɔ.ʁɛʁ\ versus \syk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "SH" vs "suc" - which ranks higher?
"SH" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,183 in our French list, against #44,755 for "suc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "SH" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "SH" and "suc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suc vs suu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,417 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