“Suited for” / “suited to” in English

by Jakub Marian

Tip: See my list of the Most Common Mistakes in English. It will teach you how to avoid mis­takes with com­mas, pre­pos­i­tions, ir­reg­u­lar verbs, and much more.

It is hard to make a mistake in this case as both “suited for” and “suited to” are correct (and the same applies to “ill-suited” and “well-suited”). Some native speakers feel there is a subtle difference in meaning, but for most the expressions are equivalent:

correct She is well suited for the job.
correct She is well suited to the job.

As for the hyphen, “well-suited” and “ill-suited” are used when they modify nouns, and “well suited” and “ill suited” are used when they follow a verb, for example:

correct It’s such a well-suited car.
wrong It’s such a well suited car.

It is also quite widespread to say “well-suited to do something”, but it is usually more elegant to just leave the verb out:

correct This computer is well suited to the task.
unnatural This computer is well suited to do the task.

This article was based on my guide to the most common mistakes in English, which explains many similar topics. Why don’t you check it out?

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