solevssowieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sole is a noun, sowie is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sole” is a noun and “sowie” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,493
“sole” frequency rank
#188
“sowie” frequency rank
27681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sole sowie
Definition nächster Stern zur Erde und Zentrum unseres Sonnensystems; Sonne wie auch, und außerdem, wobei der Fokus auf den folgenden Ausdruck gelegt wird

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sole and sowie apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sole
5 ch
sowie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sole is [ˈsole] while sowie is [zoˈviː]. 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 (noun vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sole is recorded at frequency rank #27,493, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsole]. sowie is at rank #188, tagged as aconj, pronounced [zoˈviː].

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 27681, this pair ranks #1,797,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sole vs sowie

Shared letters: eos. Private to "sole": l. Private to "sowie": iw.

"sole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sowie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soleosle · sloe · soel · ssole
  • sowieoswie · soiwe · sowei · sowwie · ssowie · swoie

Frequency comparison

sole#27,493
sowie#188

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sole" and "sowie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sole" is a noun and "sowie" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sole" or "sowie"?
"sowie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #188 in our German list, against #27,493 for "sole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering sole vs sowie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “sole”; for a conjunction, it's “sowie”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sole” 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