subisvssuieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: subis is a verb, suie is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“subis” is a verb and “suie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,747
“subis” frequency rank
#38,549
“suie” frequency rank
55296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature subis suie
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de subir. Matière noire et épaisse que la fumée dépose sur la surface des corps avec lesquels elle entre en contact.

Where the eye mixes subis and suie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. subis runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against suie's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
subis
4 ch
suie

Why the eye confuses subis with suie

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: subis is \sy.bi\ while suie is \sɥi\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

subis is recorded at frequency rank #16,747, classified as averb, pronounced \sy.bi\. suie is at rank #38,549, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɥi\.

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 55296, this pair ranks #128,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of subis vs suie

Shared letters: isu. Private to "subis": b. Private to "suie": e.

"subis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "suie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • subis ← sbuis · ssubis · subbis · subiss · subsi · suibs · usbis
  • suie ← siue · ssuie · suei · usie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "subis" and "suie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "subis" is a verb and "suie" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "subis" or "suie"?
"subis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,747 in our French list, against #38,549 for "suie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "subis" and "suie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "subis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "subis" and "suie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suie 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 #128,365 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