Which to use
“SOS” and “soya” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,949
- “SOS” frequency rank
- #49,368
- “soya” frequency rank
- 60317
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | SOS | soya |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Signal de détresse et demande d’assistance immédiate. | Sauce de soja. |
Where the eye mixes SOS and soya
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses SOS with soya
A purely visual mix-up. SOS (\ɛ.s‿o.ɛs\) and soya (\sɔ.ja\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
SOS is recorded at frequency rank #10,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ.s‿o.ɛs\. soya is at rank #49,368, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ.ja\.
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 60317, this pair ranks #98,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of SOS vs soya
Shared letters: os. Private to "SOS": -. Private to "soya": ay.
"SOS" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "soya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- soya ← osya · soay · soyya · ssoya · syoa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "SOS" for "soya" ever safe?
Which is more common, "SOS" or "soya"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "SOS" and "soya" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "SOS" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "SOS" and "soya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Soraya vs soya". 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 #98,237 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.