Which to use
“sinus” and “sous” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,225
- “sinus” frequency rank
- #25,213
- “sous” frequency rank
- 45438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sinus | sous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A pouch or cavity in a bone or other tissue, especially one in the bones of the face or skull connecting with the nasal cavities (the paranasal sinus). | plural of sou |
Where the eye mixes sinus and sous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sinus and sous
A purely visual mix-up. sinus (/ˈsaɪ.nəs/) and sous (/suːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sinus is recorded at frequency rank #20,225, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsaɪ.nəs/. sous is at rank #25,213, tagged as anoun, pronounced /suːz/.
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 45438, this pair ranks #221,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sinus vs sous
Shared letters: su. Private to "sinus": in. Private to "sous": o.
"sinus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sinus" and "sous" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sinus" vs "sous" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sinus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sinus" and "sous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sous vs suds". 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 #221,259 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.