sop

/sɒp/

//sɒp// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sop" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sop” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #34,293) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#34,293
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something entirely soaked.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sop · sop · English

sop · rank #34,293 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,293
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH splice

Nearest frequency peer: splice (+2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sop”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sop” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sop vs SS
0% similar
sop vs SP
0% similar
sop vs su
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sop
PropertyValue
Headwordsop
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sɒp/
Letters3
Frequency rank#34,293
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sop” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).soplands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “splice” (#34,295), “smut” (#34,290), “Smithfield” (#34,289). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for sop is neighbouring look-alikes ("SS", "SP", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /sɒp/. Frequency #34,293 among 6,566 “S” headwords. 7 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for sop, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "SS", "SP", "su", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sop, soppe, sope, from Old English sopa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Dutch sop, Old High German sopfa), deverbative of *sūpaną (“to sup”). Doublet of soup; more at sup. The correct English form is sop, spelled S-O-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something entirely soaked.
  2. 2
    A piece of solid food to be soaked in liquid food.
  3. 3
    Ellipsis of sop to Cerberus, something given or done to pacify or bribe.
  4. 4
    Ellipsis of milksop, a weak, easily frightened or ineffectual person.
  5. 5
    Gravy.
  6. 6
    A thing of little or no value.
  7. 7
    A piece of turf placed in the road as a target for a throw in road bowling.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sop appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The bounded Waters, / Should lift their boſomes higher then the Shores, / And make a ſoppe of all this ſolid Globe:
  2. […]Hee it is to whom I ſhall giue a ſoppe, when I haue dipped it.

Etymology

From Middle English sop, soppe, sope, from Old English sopa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Dutch sop, Old High German sopfa), deverbative of *sūpaną (“to sup”). Doublet of soup; more at sup.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sop"?
"sop" is spelled S-O-P. The IPA pronunciation is /sɒp/.
What does "sop" mean?
As a noun, "sop" means: Something entirely soaked.
What words are commonly confused with "sop"?
"sop" is commonly confused with "SS", "SP", "su". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sop"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sop" is /sɒp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sop"?
From Middle English sop, soppe, sope, from Old English sopa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Dutch sop, Old High German sopfa), deverbative of *sūpaną (“to sup”). Doublet of soup; more at sup. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sop", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

SPS#34,299TfL#34,318pur#34,243wer#34,347

What to do next

You've looked up "sop". Here's where to go from here.

  • "sop" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "SS". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #34,293 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list