sopavsspyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,673
“sopa” frequency rank
#48,092
“spy” frequency rank
53765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sopa spy
Definition Preparación liquida y cocida junto con otros ingredientes como carne o verduras. Espía.

Where the eye mixes sopa and spy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sopa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against spy's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
sopa
3 ch
spy

Visual trap between sopa and spy

A purely visual mix-up. sopa ([ˈsopa]) and spy (/spaɪ/) 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 53765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sopa is recorded at frequency rank #5,673, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsopa]. 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 53765, this pair ranks #86,302 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sopa vs spy

Shared letters: ps. Private to "sopa": ao. Private to "spy": y.

"sopa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sopa ← ospa · soap · soppa · spoa · ssopa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sopa" and "spy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsopa] versus /spaɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sopa" or "spy" show up more?
"sopa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,673 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.

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 "sopa" 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 #86,302 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sopa" and "spy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs spy". 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 #86,302 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