sobvssueTell them apart

Quick tell: sob is a preposition, sue is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sob” is a preposition and “sue” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#320
“sob” frequency rank
#16,624
“sue” frequency rank
16944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sob sue
Definition abaixo, em baixo forma sem gênero de seu ou sua

Letter map: sob vs sue

Shared letters muted; letters that set sob and sue apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
sob
3 ch
sue

Grammar separator: sob vs sue

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sob is apreposition and sueapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sob is recorded at frequency rank #320, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈsob/. sue is at rank #16,624, tagged as apron.

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 16944, this pair ranks #54,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sob vs sue

Shared letters: s. Private to "sob": bo. Private to "sue": eu.

"sob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sue" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sob" for "sue" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sob" is a preposition and "sue" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sob" or "sue"?
"sob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #320 in our Portuguese list, against #16,624 for "sue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sob" and "sue".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sob" and "sue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sue vs sueño". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list