Which to use
“sou” and “spud” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,525
- “sou” frequency rank
- #42,419
- “spud” frequency rank
- 77944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sou | spud |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | A potato. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sou and spud apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. sou (/suː/) and spud (/spʌd/) 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 77944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sou is recorded at frequency rank #35,525, classified as anoun, pronounced /suː/. spud is at rank #42,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spʌd/.
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 77944, this pair ranks #25,908 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sou vs spud
Shared letters: su. Private to "sou": o. Private to "spud": dp.
"sou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "spud" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- spud ← psud · spdu · sppud · spudd · sspud · supd
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sou" and "spud" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sou" or "spud"?
Remembering sou vs spud
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sou” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable