Which to use
“ste” is a verb and “sup” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,412
- “ste” frequency rank
- #10,952
- “sup” frequency rank
- 21364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ste | sup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de stare. | Super |
Where the eye mixes ste and sup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between ste and sup
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ste is \ˈstɛ\ while sup is \syp\. 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 (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ste is recorded at frequency rank #10,412, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈstɛ\. sup is at rank #10,952, tagged as anintj, pronounced \syp\.
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 21364, this pair ranks #363,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ste vs sup
Shared letters: s. Private to "ste": et. Private to "sup": pu.
"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ste" and "sup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ste" or "sup" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ste" and "sup" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #363,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ste" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sup vs suu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #363,557 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.