Which to use
“sur” is a preposition and “sure” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26
- “sur” frequency rank
- #8,164
- “sure” frequency rank
- 8190
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sur | sure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Indique une position plus élevée. | Féminin singulier de sur : qui a un goût acide et aigrelet. |
Same sound, different letters: sur vs sure
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - sur / sure
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: sur and sure carry the same recorded pronunciation, \syʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is apreposition, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “sur” sits inside “sure”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sur is recorded at frequency rank #26, classified as aprep, pronounced \syʁ\. sure is at rank #8,164, tagged as anadj, pronounced \syʁ\.
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 8190, this pair ranks #420,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sur vs sure
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sur": -. Private to "sure": e.
"sur" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sure ← srue · ssure · surre · usre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sur" and "sure" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sur" vs "sure" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"sur" and "sure" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "sur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sur" and "sure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sure 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 #420,837 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.