Which to use
“sólo” is an adverb and “suyo” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #127
- “sólo” frequency rank
- #2,426
- “suyo” frequency rank
- 2553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sólo | suyo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grafía alternativa de solo (adverbio). Cada vez que deba entenderse como equivalente de solamente y sea posible la confusión con el adjetivo homónimo, es optativo tildar la palabra para desambiguar. | Pronombre posesivo de tercera persona en género masculino y femenino y ambos números singular y plural. |
Where the eye mixes sólo and suyo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sólo and suyo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sólo is [ˈsolo] while suyo is [ˈsuʝo]. 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 (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sólo is recorded at frequency rank #127, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈsolo]. suyo is at rank #2,426, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈsuʝo].
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 2553, this pair ranks #320,084 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sólo vs suyo
Shared letters: os. Private to "sólo": ló. Private to "suyo": uy.
"sólo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "suyo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- suyo ← ssuyo · suoy · suyyo · syuo · usyo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sólo" for "suyo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sólo" or "suyo" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sólo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suyo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,084 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sólo" and "suyo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Susa vs suyo". 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 #320,084 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.