survssuraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#517
“sur” frequency rank
#44,474
“sura” frequency rank
44991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sur sura
Definition Punto cardinal del horizonte, exactamente donde se encuentra el Sol a mediodía (en el hemisferio norte), marcado a 180° con respecto al Norte en una brújula. Convencionalmente se ubica en la parte inferior de los mapas,. Cada uno de los 114 capítulos en que se divide el Corán, a su vez divididos en ayas o versículos.

Where the eye mixes sur and sura

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
sur
4 ch
sura

Why the eye confuses sur with sura

A purely visual mix-up. sur ([ˈsuɾ]) and sura ([ˈsuɾa]) 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 extra letter(s) - “sur” sits inside “sura”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sur is recorded at frequency rank #517, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsuɾ]. sura is at rank #44,474, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsuɾa].

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 44991, this pair ranks #133,932 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sur vs sura

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sur": -. Private to "sura": a.

"sur" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sura" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • surasrua · ssura · surra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sur" for "sura" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsuɾ] versus [ˈsuɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sur" vs "sura" - which ranks higher?
"sur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #517 in our Spanish list, against #44,474 for "sura". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,932 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sur" and "sura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sura vs Syria". 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 #133,932 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