Which to use
“spice” is a noun and “suive” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,544
- “spice” frequency rank
- #18,330
- “suive” frequency rank
- 56874
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spice | suive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Épice. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif du verbe suivre. |
Where the eye mixes spice and suive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: spice vs suive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spice is \spɑɪs\ while suive is \sɥiv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spice is recorded at frequency rank #38,544, classified as anoun, pronounced \spɑɪs\. suive is at rank #18,330, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥiv\.
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 56874, this pair ranks #118,411 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spice vs suive
Shared letters: eis. Private to "spice": cp. Private to "suive": uv.
"spice" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "suive" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spice" and "suive" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "spice" vs "suive" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #118,411 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spice" and "suive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spi vs spice". 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 #118,411 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.