A suit is a matching jacket and trousers, a category of playing cards, or a legal action: "He wore a navy suit to the interview." A suite, pronounced "sweet", is a matching set of rooms, furniture, software or musical pieces: "They booked a suite overlooking the harbour." If the word sounds like sweet, it needs the final e.
The core difference
Pronunciation is the fastest route in. Suit rhymes with boot. Suite is pronounced exactly like sweet. If you say your sentence aloud and hear "sweet", you want suite; if you hear "soo-t", rhyming with boot, you want suit.
Meaning follows the same split. Suit is clothing, cards or law. Suite is a set of matching things kept together.
How to use each
- Suit (clothing) — "His suit needed taking in at the waist."
- Suit (verb, to be right for) — "That colour suits you." "Tuesday suits me better."
- Suit (cards) — "You must follow suit if you can."
- Suit (law) — "They filed a suit against the developer."
- Suite (rooms) — "The hotel upgraded us to a suite." "A three-piece bathroom suite."
- Suite (software) — "The office suite includes a spreadsheet."
- Suite (music) — "Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite."
The test
Ask whether the thing is a set of matching parts. A suite of rooms, a suite of furniture, a suite of tests, a suite of applications — all sets. If yes, write suite. Otherwise, if it is something you wear, something you do in court, or a verb meaning to be suitable, write suit.
The memory hook: a hotel suite is a sweet upgrade. That single association fixes both the spelling and the pronunciation.
The word people forget: suite in the office
An office suite in an address ("Suite 400, 12 Market Street") means a set of rooms, so it takes the e. Writing "Suit 400" on a letterhead is a surprisingly common and visible error.
The edge case worth knowing
Two idioms trip writers up. Follow suit means to do as someone else has done, and comes from card play — no e. Suit yourself is the verb, also no e. Meanwhile en suite (two words in British usage) describes a bathroom attached to a bedroom: "The room has an en suite." It follows the suite spelling, and is pronounced "on sweet".
A note on suits as slang for executives — "The suits upstairs will decide" — which refers to the clothing and never takes an e.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it "follow suit" or "follow suite"?
Follow suit. The phrase comes from card games, where you must play a card of the same suit. It means to copy what someone else has just done.
Which spelling for a hotel room upgrade?
Suite, pronounced "sweet". A hotel suite is a set of connected rooms, usually a bedroom with a separate sitting room.
Is it "suit 200" or "suite 200" in an address?
Suite 200. An office suite is a set of rooms, so it takes the e. This is one of the most visible places to get it wrong.