Which to use
“sole” is an adjective and “sou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,411
- “sole” frequency rank
- #35,525
- “sou” frequency rank
- 39936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sole | sou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Only. | 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 sole and sou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sole is /səʊl/ while sou is /suː/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sole is recorded at frequency rank #4,411, classified as anadj, pronounced /səʊl/. 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 39936, this pair ranks #272,172 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sole vs sou
Shared letters: os. Private to "sole": el. Private to "sou": u.
"sole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sole ← osle · sloe · soel · solle · ssole
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sole" and "sou" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sole" or "sou"?
What to do next
You've compared "sole" and "sou". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sole" 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 #272,172 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sole" and "sou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sif 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.