su vs sua, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#20
“su” frequency rank: #44,466
“sua” frequency rank: 44486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	su	sua
Definition	Adjetivo posesivo de la tercera persona; de él, de ella, de ellos, de ellas.	Forma del nominativo femenino singular de suus.

Where the eye mixes su and sua

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

2 ch

3 ch

sua

Visual trap between su and sua

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: su is [su] while sua is /ˈsʷa/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “su” sits inside “sua”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

su is recorded at frequency rank #20, classified as anadj, pronounced [su]. sua is at rank #44,466, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈsʷa/.

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 44486, this pair ranks #136,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of su vs sua

Shared letters: su. Private to "su": -. Private to "sua": a.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "su" and "sua" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "su" is an adjective and "sua" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "su" or "sua"?

"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20 in our Spanish list, against #44,466 for "sua". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "su" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #136,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"su" and "sua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sila vs sua". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #136,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.