suisvssupConfusable pair

Quick tell: suis is a verb, sup is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“suis” is a verb and “sup” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#77
“suis” frequency rank
#10,952
“sup” frequency rank
11029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suis sup
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de être. Super

Where the eye mixes suis and sup

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

4 ch
suis
3 ch
sup

Why the eye confuses suis with sup

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suis is \sɥi\ while sup is \syp\. 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 intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suis is recorded at frequency rank #77, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥi\. sup is at rank #10,952, tagged as anintj, pronounced \syp\.

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 11029, this pair ranks #410,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of suis vs sup

Shared letters: su. Private to "suis": i. Private to "sup": p.

"suis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suissius · ssuis · suiss · susi · usis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "suis" and "sup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "suis" is a verb and "sup" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "suis" vs "sup" - which ranks higher?
"suis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #77 in our French list, against #10,952 for "sup". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "suis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #410,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suis" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sup 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 #410,735 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