susvssuuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sus is a adverb, suu is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sus” is an adverb and “suu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,488
“sus” frequency rank
#49,960
“suu” frequency rank
62448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sus suu
Definition Dessus. Son.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sus and suu apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
sus
3 ch
suu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sus is \sys\ while suu is \ˈsuː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “sus” becomes u in “suu”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sus is recorded at frequency rank #12,488, classified as anadv, pronounced \sys\. suu is at rank #49,960, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈsuː\.

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 62448, this pair ranks #87,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sus vs suu

Shared letters: su. Private to "sus": -. Private to "suu": -.

"sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "suu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

sus#12,488
suu#49,960

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sus" and "suu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sus" is an adverb and "suu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sus" or "suu"?
"sus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,488 in our French list, against #49,960 for "suu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sus vs suu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “sus”; for an adjective, it's “suu”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sus” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list