soldvssorTell them apart

Quick tell: sold is a verb, sor is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sold” is a verb and “sor” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,150
“sold” frequency rank
#37,700
“sor” frequency rank
38850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sold sor
Definition simple past and past participle of sell A sorority (student organization).

Letter map: sold vs sor

Shared letters muted; letters that set sold and sor apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
sold
3 ch
sor

Grammar separator: sold vs sor

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sold is averb and soranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sold is recorded at frequency rank #1,150, classified as averb, pronounced /səʊld/. sor is at rank #37,700, tagged as anoun.

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 38850, this pair ranks #282,129 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sold vs sor

Shared letters: os. Private to "sold": dl. Private to "sor": r.

"sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sor" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soldosld · slod · sodl · soldd · solld · ssold

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sold" for "sor" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sold" is a verb and "sor" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sold" vs "sor" - which ranks higher?
"sold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,150 in our English list, against #37,700 for "sor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "sold" vs "sor" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,129 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sold" and "sor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sor vs sura". 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 #282,129 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