sex vs sou, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,835
“sex” frequency rank: #106
“sou” frequency rank: 7941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sex	sou
Definition	sexo, gênero	primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ser

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

sex

3 ch

sou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sex is /sɛks/ while sou is /ˈsow/, /ˈso/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sex is recorded at frequency rank #7,835, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɛks/. sou is at rank #106, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsow/, /ˈso/.

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 7941, this pair ranks #66,019 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sex vs sou

Shared letters: s. Private to "sex": ex. Private to "sou": ou.

"sex" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

sex#7,835

sou#106

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"sou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #106 in our Portuguese list, against #7,835 for "sex". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering sex vs sou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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