Which to use
“suspend” is a verb and “suspense” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,884
- “suspend” frequency rank
- #13,075
- “suspense” frequency rank
- 31959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspend | suspense |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de suspendre. | Censure par laquelle un ecclésiastique est déclaré suspens. |
Where the eye mixes suspend and suspense
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses suspend with suspense
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suspend is \sys.pɑ̃\ while suspense is \sys.pɑ̃s\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspend is recorded at frequency rank #18,884, classified as averb, pronounced \sys.pɑ̃\. suspense is at rank #13,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sys.pɑ̃s\.
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 31959, this pair ranks #300,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suspend vs suspense
Shared letters: enpsu. Private to "suspend": d. Private to "suspense": -.
"suspend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "suspense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "suspend" and "suspense" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "suspend" vs "suspense" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "suspend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suspense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suspend" and "suspense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suspense vs suspensif". 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 #300,481 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.