suvssungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“su” and “sung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,609
“su” frequency rank
#26,197
“sung” frequency rank
27806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature su sung
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe savoir. Participe passé de sing.

Where the eye mixes su and sung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch
su
4 ch
sung

Visual trap between su and sung

A purely visual mix-up. su (\sy\) and sung (\ˈsʌŋ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “su” sits inside “sung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

su is recorded at frequency rank #1,609, classified as averb, pronounced \sy\. sung is at rank #26,197, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈsʌŋ\.

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 27806, this pair ranks #326,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of su vs sung

Shared letters: su. Private to "su": -. Private to "sung": gn.

"su" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "sung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sungsnug · ssung · sugn · sungg · sunng · usng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "su" for "sung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sy\ versus \ˈsʌŋ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "su" vs "sung" - which ranks higher?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,609 in our French list, against #26,197 for "sung". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "su" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #326,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "su" and "sung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sung 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

Confusion rank #326,648 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list