Which to use
“sown” is a verb and “soya” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,976
- “sown” frequency rank
- #40,026
- “soya” frequency rank
- 71002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sown | soya |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of sow | Alternative form of soy. |
Where the eye mixes sown and soya
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sown (CVCC) and soya (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: sown vs soya
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sown is /soʊn/ while soya is /ˈsɔɪ.ə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sown is recorded at frequency rank #30,976, classified as averb, pronounced /soʊn/. soya is at rank #40,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɔɪ.ə/.
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 71002, this pair ranks #48,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sown vs soya
Shared letters: os. Private to "sown": nw. Private to "soya": ay.
"sown" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "soya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sown" and "soya" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sown" or "soya"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sown" and "soya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soya 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 #48,390 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.