st vs sus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“st” is a symbol and “sus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,190
“st” frequency rank: #12,488
“sus” frequency rank: 13678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	st	sus
Definition	Symbole de la stère.	Dessus.

Letter map: st vs sus

Shared letters muted; letters that set st and sus apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

3 ch

sus

Grammar separator: st vs sus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: st is asymbol and susanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

st is recorded at frequency rank #1,190, classified as asymbol. 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 13678, this pair ranks #400,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of st vs sus

Shared letters: s. Private to "st": t. Private to "sus": u.

"st" · 2 letters · shape CC · "sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "st" and "sus" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "st" is a symbol and "sus" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary French text, does "st" or "sus" show up more?

"st" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,190 in our French list, against #12,488 for "sus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "st" and "sus".

Full dictionary entry for "st" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #400,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"st" and "sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sus vs suu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #400,002 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.