seuvsspyTell them apart

Quick tell: seu is a adjective, spy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seu” is an adjective and “spy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,751
“seu” frequency rank
#48,092
“spy” frequency rank
83843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seu spy
Definition Su. Espía.

Where the eye mixes seu and spy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. seu (CVV) and spy (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
seu
3 ch
spy

Look-alike desk: seu vs spy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seu is [ˈsew] while spy is /spaɪ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seu is recorded at frequency rank #35,751, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsew]. spy is at rank #48,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spaɪ/.

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 83843, this pair ranks #7,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of seu vs spy

Shared letters: s. Private to "seu": eu. Private to "spy": py.

"seu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "seu" and "spy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seu" is an adjective and "spy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "seu" or "spy"?
"seu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,751 in our Spanish list, against #48,092 for "spy". 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 "seu" and "spy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seu" and "spy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs spy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,668 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