Which to use
“sez” is a verb and “sou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,041
- “sez” frequency rank
- #35,525
- “sou” frequency rank
- 84566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sez | sou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Eye dialect spelling of says. | An old French copper coin equal to one twentieth of a livre or twelve deniers; one sou is to the livre as one shilling is to the pound. |
Where the eye mixes sez and sou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. sez (CVC) and sou (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses sez with sou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sez is /sɛz/ while sou is /suː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sez is recorded at frequency rank #49,041, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛz/. sou is at rank #35,525, tagged as anoun, pronounced /suː/.
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 84566, this pair ranks #11,859 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sez vs sou
Shared letters: s. Private to "sez": ez. Private to "sou": ou.
"sez" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sez" and "sou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sez" vs "sou" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,859 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sez" and "sou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sez vs Sif". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #11,859 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.