suervssueurWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#28,765
“suer” frequency rank
#9,746
“sueur” frequency rank
38511
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suer sueur
Definition Transpirer, rendre de la sueur par les pores de la peau. Liquide aqueux qui sort par les pores de la peau.

Where the eye mixes suer and sueur

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

4 ch
suer
5 ch
sueur

Visual trap between suer and sueur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suer is \sɥe\ while sueur is \sɥœʁ\. 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 38511, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suer is recorded at frequency rank #28,765, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥe\. sueur is at rank #9,746, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɥœʁ\.

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 38511, this pair ranks #254,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of suer vs sueur

Shared letters: ersu. Private to "suer": -. Private to "sueur": -.

"suer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sueur" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suerseur · ssuer · suerr
  • sueurseuur · ssueur · sueru · sueurr · suuer · useur

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "suer" and "sueur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "suer" is a verb and "sueur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "suer" or "sueur"?
"sueur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,746 in our French list, against #28,765 for "suer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "suer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sueur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suer" and "sueur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suer 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 #254,765 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