Which to use
“suit” is an adjective and “sum” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,722
- “suit” frequency rank
- #30,825
- “sum” frequency rank
- 32547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suit | sum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suivi (participe passé). | Unité monétaire utilisée en Ouzbékistan |
Where the eye mixes suit and sum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: suit vs sum
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suit is \sɥi\ while sum is \sum\. 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 32547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suit is recorded at frequency rank #1,722, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɥi\. sum is at rank #30,825, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sum\.
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 32547, this pair ranks #296,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suit vs sum
Shared letters: su. Private to "suit": it. Private to "sum": m.
"suit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sum" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- suit ← siut · ssuit · suitt · suti · usit
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suit" for "sum" ever safe?
Which is more common, "suit" or "sum"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "suit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suit" and "sum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sum 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 #296,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.