Which to use
“sous” is a preposition and “su” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #115
- “sous” frequency rank
- #1,609
- “su” frequency rank
- 1724
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sous | su |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sert à marquer la situation d’une chose à l’égard d’une autre qui est au-dessus, par-dessus, qui la couvre en totalité ou en partie. | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe savoir. |
Where the eye mixes sous and su
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sous is \su\ while su is \sy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sous is recorded at frequency rank #115, classified as aprep, pronounced \su\. su is at rank #1,609, tagged as averb, pronounced \sy\.
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 1724, this pair ranks #437,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sous vs su
Shared letters: su. Private to "sous": o. Private to "su": -.
"sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "su" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sous ← osus · sosu · souss · ssous · suos
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sous" and "su" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sous" or "su"?
What to do next
You've compared "sous" and "su". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sous" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "su 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.