Which to use
“sure” is an adjective and “sus” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,164
- “sure” frequency rank
- #12,488
- “sus” frequency rank
- 20652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sure | sus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de sur : qui a un goût acide et aigrelet. | Dessus. |
Where the eye mixes sure and sus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sure vs sus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sure is \syʁ\ while sus is \sys\. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sure is recorded at frequency rank #8,164, classified as anadj, pronounced \syʁ\. sus is at rank #12,488, tagged as anadv, pronounced \sys\.
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 20652, this pair ranks #367,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sure vs sus
Shared letters: su. Private to "sure": er. Private to "sus": -.
"sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sure ← srue · ssure · surre · usre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sure" and "sus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sure" vs "sus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sure" and "sus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sure" and "sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sus 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 #367,206 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.