Which to use
“shut” is a verb and “sum” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,005
- “shut” frequency rank
- #30,825
- “sum” frequency rank
- 71830
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | sum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Refermer, fermer ce qui était ouvert, fermer. | Unité monétaire utilisée en Ouzbékistan |
Letter map: shut vs sum
Shared letters muted; letters that set shut and sum apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: shut vs sum
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shut is averb and sumanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shut is recorded at frequency rank #41,005, classified as averb. sum is at rank #30,825, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sum\.
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 71830, this pair ranks #46,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs sum
Shared letters: su. Private to "shut": ht. Private to "sum": m.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- shut ← hsut · shhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shut" for "sum" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shut" or "sum"?
What to do next
Pair "shut" vs "sum" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "sum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shut 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 #46,133 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.