sovssukWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: so is a adverb, suk is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“so” is an adverb and “suk” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,187
“so” frequency rank
#47,626
“suk” frequency rank
51813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature so suk
Definition Ainsi, comme ça. Nœud dans le bois.

Where the eye mixes so and suk

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

2 ch
so
3 ch
suk

Look-alike desk: so vs suk

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: so is \zoː\ while suk is \sʊk\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

so is recorded at frequency rank #4,187, classified as anadv, pronounced \zoː\. suk is at rank #47,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sʊk\.

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 51813, this pair ranks #152,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of so vs suk

Shared letters: s. Private to "so": o. Private to "suk": ku.

"so" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "suk" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "so" for "suk" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "so" is an adverb and "suk" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "so" or "suk"?
"so" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,187 in our French list, against #47,626 for "suk". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "so" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "so" and "suk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suk vs suu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #152,260 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