SiouxvssixWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Sioux is a name, six is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Sioux” is a name and “six” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,347
“Sioux” frequency rank
#519
“six” frequency rank
16866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sioux six
Definition Various formerly nomadic Native American tribes of the North American Great Plains. A numerical value equal to 6; the number following five and preceding seven. This number of dots: (••••••).

Where the eye mixes Sioux and six

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Sioux
3 ch
six

Why the eye confuses Sioux with six

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sioux is /sjuː/ while six is /sɪks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sioux is recorded at frequency rank #16,347, classified as aname, pronounced /sjuː/. six is at rank #519, tagged as anum, pronounced /sɪks/.

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 16866, this pair ranks #455,096 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sioux vs six

Shared letters: isx. Private to "Sioux": ou. Private to "six": -.

"Sioux" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "six" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Siouxisoux · siouxx · sioxu · siuox · soiux · ssioux

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sioux" and "six" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sioux" is a name and "six" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Sioux" or "six" show up more?
"six" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #519 in our English list, against #16,347 for "Sioux". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Sioux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "six" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #455,096 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sioux" and "six" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sioux vs sou". 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 #455,096 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list