suavevssurveyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: suave is a adjective, survey is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“suave” is an adjective and “survey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,765
“suave” frequency rank
#34,325
“survey” frequency rank
69090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suave survey
Definition Qui est d’une douceur agréable. Sondage.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set suave and survey apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
suave
6 ch
survey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suave is \sɥav\ while survey is \ˈsɝ.veɪ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suave is recorded at frequency rank #34,765, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɥav\. survey is at rank #34,325, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɝ.veɪ\.

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 69090, this pair ranks #56,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of suave vs survey

Shared letters: esuv. Private to "suave": a. Private to "survey": ry.

"suave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "survey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suavessuave · suaev · suavve · suvae · usave
  • surveysruvey · ssurvey · surevy · surrvey · surveyy · survvey · survye · suvrey

Frequency comparison

suave#34,765
survey#34,325

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "suave" and "survey" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "suave" is an adjective and "survey" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "suave" or "survey"?
"survey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,325 in our French list, against #34,765 for "suave". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering suave vs survey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “suave”; for a noun, it's “survey”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “suave” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list