spyvssudTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,092
“spy” frequency rank
#14,016
“sud” frequency rank
62108
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spy sud
Definition Espía. 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 spy and sud

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

3 ch
spy
3 ch
sud

Look-alike desk: spy vs sud

A purely visual mix-up. spy (/spaɪ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spy is recorded at frequency rank #48,092, classified as anoun, pronounced /spaɪ/. 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 62108, this pair ranks #53,118 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of spy vs sud

Shared letters: s. Private to "spy": py. Private to "sud": du.

"spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "sud" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "spy" and "sud" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/spaɪ/ versus [ˈsuð̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "spy" vs "sud" - which ranks higher?
"sud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,016 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spy" 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 #53,118 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spy" and "sud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs spy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,118 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