subirvssucerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,878
“subir” frequency rank
#10,589
“sucer” frequency rank
14467
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature subir sucer
Definition Souffrir, supporter ou être soumis à quelque chose de pénible. Aspirer avec la bouche un liquide, une substance, le suc d’une chose.

Where the eye mixes subir and sucer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
subir
5 ch
sucer

Visual trap between subir and sucer

A purely visual mix-up. subir (\sy.biʁ\) and sucer (\sy.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

subir is recorded at frequency rank #3,878, classified as averb, pronounced \sy.biʁ\. sucer is at rank #10,589, tagged as averb, pronounced \sy.se\.

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 14467, this pair ranks #396,512 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of subir vs sucer

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "subir": bi. Private to "sucer": ce.

"subir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sucer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • subirsbuir · ssubir · subbir · subirr · subri · suibr · usbir
  • sucerscuer · ssucer · succer · sucerr · suecr · uscer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "subir" for "sucer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sy.biʁ\ versus \sy.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "subir" or "sucer"?
"subir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,878 in our French list, against #10,589 for "sucer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "subir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sucer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,512 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "subir" and "sucer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sucent vs sucer". 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 #396,512 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