Which to use
“sous” is a preposition and “sus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #115
- “sous” frequency rank
- #12,488
- “sus” frequency rank
- 12603
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sous | sus |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Dessus. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sous and sus apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
sous and sus form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sous is recorded at frequency rank #115, classified as aprep, pronounced \su\. sus is at rank #12,488, tagged as anadv, pronounced \sys\.
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 12603, this pair ranks #404,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sous" and "sus" be used interchangeably?
Remembering sous vs sus
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “sous”; for an adverb, it's “sus”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sous” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable