shuivssupWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: shui is a typographic variant, sup is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#34,752
“shui” frequency rank
#10,952
“sup” frequency rank
45704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shui sup
Definition Orthographe par contrainte typographique par système h de ŝui. Super

Where the eye mixes shui and sup

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

4 ch
shui
3 ch
sup

Visual trap between shui and sup

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shui is \ˈʃu.i\ while sup is \syp\. 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 intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45704, 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\. sup is at rank #10,952, tagged as anintj, pronounced \syp\.

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 45704, this pair ranks #200,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shui vs sup

Shared letters: su. Private to "shui": hi. Private to "sup": p.

"shui" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shuihsui · shhui · shiu · sshui · suhi

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "shui" and "sup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shui" is a typographic variant and "sup" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "shui" or "sup" show up more?
"sup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,952 in our French list, against #34,752 for "shui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "shui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #200,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shui" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shui 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 #200,671 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