suavssudConfusable pair

Quick tell: sua is a pronoun, sud is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#44,466
“sua” frequency rank
#14,016
“sud” frequency rank
58482
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sua sud
Definition Forma del nominativo femenino singular de suus. 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 sua and sud

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

3 ch
sua
3 ch
sud

Visual trap between sua and sud

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sua is /ˈsʷa/ while sud is [ˈsuð̞]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “sua” becomes d in “sud”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sua is recorded at frequency rank #44,466, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈsʷa/. 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 58482, this pair ranks #66,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sua vs sud

Shared letters: su. Private to "sua": a. Private to "sud": d.

"sua" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "sud" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sua" for "sud" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sua" is a pronoun and "sud" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sua" or "sud" show up more?
"sud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,016 in our Spanish list, against #44,466 for "sua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "sua" and "sud" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sua" 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 #66,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sua" and "sud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sila vs sua". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,294 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