Which to use
“sous” is a preposition and “stu” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,337
- “sous” frequency rank
- #47,032
- “stu” frequency rank
- 76369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sous | stu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | unter (unterhalb von) | Dativ Singular des Numerales sto |
Where the eye mixes sous and stu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sous runs 4 letters (CVVC) against stu's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sous and stu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sous is [su] while stu is [stʊ]. 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 (preposition vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sous is recorded at frequency rank #29,337, classified as aprep, pronounced [su]. stu is at rank #47,032, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [stʊ].
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 76369, this pair ranks #285,473 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sous vs stu
Shared letters: su. Private to "sous": o. Private to "stu": t.
"sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "stu" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sous ← osus · sosu · souss · ssous · suos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sous" for "stu" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sous" or "stu" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,473 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sous" and "stu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs stu". 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 #285,473 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.