soivssuTell them apart

Quick tell: soi is a verb, su is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“soi” is a verb and “su” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,396
“soi” frequency rank
#20
“su” frequency rank
38416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature soi su
Definition Segunda persona singular informal en el voseo chileno (vos) del presente de indicativo del verbo ser. Adjetivo posesivo de la tercera persona; de él, de ella, de ellos, de ellas.

Where the eye mixes soi and su

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
soi
2 ch
su

Look-alike desk: soi vs su

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: soi is [ˈsoj] while su is [su]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soi is recorded at frequency rank #38,396, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsoj]. su is at rank #20, tagged as anadj, pronounced [su].

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 38416, this pair ranks #170,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of soi vs su

Shared letters: s. Private to "soi": io. Private to "su": u.

"soi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "su" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "soi" and "su" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "soi" is a verb and "su" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "soi" or "su" show up more?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20 in our Spanish list, against #38,396 for "soi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "soi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #170,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "soi" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soi vs sous". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #170,144 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