showsvssousWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,135
“shows” frequency rank
#48,705
“sous” frequency rank
59840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shows sous
Definition Forma del plural de show ('espectáculos'). Forma del plural de sou.

Where the eye mixes shows and sous

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
shows
4 ch
sous

Look-alike desk: shows vs sous

A purely visual mix-up. shows (/ʃəʊz/) and sous ([ˈsows]) 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 59840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shows is recorded at frequency rank #11,135, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃəʊz/. sous is at rank #48,705, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsows].

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 59840, this pair ranks #61,142 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of shows vs sous

Shared letters: os. Private to "shows": hw. Private to "sous": u.

"shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • showshsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows
  • sousosus · sosu · souss · ssous

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shows" for "sous" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ʃəʊz/ versus [ˈsows]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "shows" vs "sous" - which ranks higher?
"shows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,135 in our Spanish list, against #48,705 for "sous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,142 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shows" and "sous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sous vs Susa". 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 #61,142 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