sobrasvssordasTell them apart

Quick tell: sobras is a noun, sordas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#18,982
“sobras” frequency rank
#42,704
“sordas” frequency rank
61686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sobras sordas
Definition Parte que queda de algo, especialmente comida, después de usarlo o consumirlo. Forma del femenino plural de sordo.

Where the eye mixes sobras and sordas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sobras and sordas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
sobras
6 ch
sordas

Why the eye confuses sobras with sordas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sobras is [ˈsoβ̞ɾas] while sordas is [ˈsoɾð̞as]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sobras is recorded at frequency rank #18,982, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsoβ̞ɾas]. sordas is at rank #42,704, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsoɾð̞as].

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 61686, this pair ranks #54,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sobras vs sordas

Shared letters: aors. Private to "sobras": b. Private to "sordas": d.

"sobras" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sordas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sobras ← osbras · sboras · sobars · sobbras · sobrass · sobrras · sobrsa · sorbas
  • sordas ← osrdas · sodras · sorads · sordass · sorddas · sordsa · sorrdas · srodas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sobras" for "sordas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sobras" is a noun and "sordas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sobras" vs "sordas" - which ranks higher?
"sobras" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,982 in our Spanish list, against #42,704 for "sordas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sobras" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sordas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sobras" and "sordas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "solías vs sordas". 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 #54,584 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