sookvssousConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,187
“sook” frequency rank
#25,213
“sous” frequency rank
71400
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sook sous
Definition Alternative spelling of suck. plural of sou

Letter map: sook vs sous

Shared letters muted; letters that set sook and sous apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. sook and sous follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
sook
4 ch
sous

Grammar separator: sook vs sous

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sook is averb and sousanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sook is recorded at frequency rank #46,187, classified as averb. 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 71400, this pair ranks #46,898 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sook vs sous

Shared letters: os. Private to "sook": k. Private to "sous": u.

"sook" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sook ← osok · sok · soko · sookk · ssook
  • sous ← osus · sosu · souss · ssous · suos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sook" and "sous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sook" is a verb and "sous" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "sook" or "sous" show up more?
"sous" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,213 in our English list, against #46,187 for "sook". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sook" and "sous".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sook" 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 #46,898 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sook" and "sous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soca vs sook". 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 #46,898 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