sly vs sou, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sly” is an adjective and “sou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,613
“sly” frequency rank: #10,242
“sou” frequency rank: 57855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sly	sou
Definition	Matois, malin.	Monnaie d’or médiévale, dérivant du solidus romain.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sly and sou apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

sly

3 ch

sou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sly is \ˈslaɪ\ while sou is \su\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sly is recorded at frequency rank #47,613, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈslaɪ\. sou is at rank #10,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced \su\.

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 57855, this pair ranks #112,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sly vs sou

Shared letters: s. Private to "sly": ly. Private to "sou": ou.

"sly" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "sou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

sly#47,613

sou#10,242

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sly" and "sou" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "sly" or "sou"?

"sou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,242 in our French list, against #47,613 for "sly". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sly vs sou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “sly”; for a noun, it's “sou”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sly” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable