shuivssouciWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: shui is a typographic variant, souci is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“shui” is a typographic variant and “souci” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,752
“shui” frequency rank
#2,644
“souci” frequency rank
37396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shui souci
Definition Orthographe par contrainte typographique par système h de ŝui. Soin, préoccupation, inquiétude.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set shui and souci apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
shui
5 ch
souci

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shui is \ˈʃu.i\ while souci is \su.si\. 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 (typographic variant vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shui is recorded at frequency rank #34,752, classified as atypographic variant, pronounced \ˈʃu.i\. souci is at rank #2,644, tagged as anoun, pronounced \su.si\.

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 37396, this pair ranks #262,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shui vs souci

Shared letters: isu. Private to "shui": h. Private to "souci": co.

"shui" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "souci" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shuihsui · shhui · shiu · sshui · suhi
  • souciosuci · socui · soucci · souic · ssouci · suoci

Frequency comparison

shui#34,752
souci#2,644

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shui" and "souci" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shui" is a typographic variant and "souci" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "shui" or "souci"?
"souci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,644 in our French list, against #34,752 for "shui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering shui vs souci

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a typographic variant, it's “shui”; for a noun, it's “souci”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “shui” 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