sousvssudWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,705
“sous” frequency rank
#14,016
“sud” frequency rank
62721
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sous sud
Definition Forma del plural de sou. Uno de los cuatro puntos cardinales, el especificado por los 180°, dirigido hacia el polo sur, por convención la dirección hacia abajo en un mapa.

Where the eye mixes sous and sud

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sous
3 ch
sud

Why the eye confuses sous with sud

A purely visual mix-up. sous ([ˈsows]) and sud ([ˈsuð̞]) 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 62721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sous is recorded at frequency rank #48,705, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsows]. sud is at rank #14,016, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsuð̞].

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 62721, this pair ranks #51,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sous vs sud

Shared letters: su. Private to "sous": o. Private to "sud": d.

"sous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "sud" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sousosus · sosu · souss · ssous

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sous" and "sud" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsows] versus [ˈsuð̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sous" or "sud"?
"sud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,016 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sous" and "sud" 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 #51,048 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