selfvssulWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“self” and “sul” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,513
“self” frequency rank
#20,840
“sul” frequency rank
41353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature self sul
Definition Uno mismo. Sur.

Where the eye mixes self and sul

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
self
3 ch
sul

Why the eye confuses self with sul

A purely visual mix-up. self (/sɛlf/) and sul (/ˈsul/) 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 41353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

self is recorded at frequency rank #20,513, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɛlf/. sul is at rank #20,840, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsul/.

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 41353, this pair ranks #154,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of self vs sul

Shared letters: ls. Private to "self": ef. Private to "sul": u.

"self" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sul" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • selfcelf · eslf · sefl · selff · sellf · slef · sself

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "self" and "sul" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/sɛlf/ versus /ˈsul/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "self" or "sul"?
"self" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,513 in our Spanish list, against #20,840 for "sul". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "self" and "sul" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "self" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sul" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "self" and "sul" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sila vs sul". 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 #154,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list