Sole vs. Soul — What's the Difference?

Only one of its kind; singular.

The spiritual or immaterial essence of a human, often considered immortal.

A shipping forecast area in the north-eastern Atlantic, covering the western approaches to the English Channel.

Deep emotion or energy, especially in artistic performance.

Put a new sole on to (a shoe)

A kind or type of music, often with vocal delivery and a strong emotional resonance.

One and only

In many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, the soul is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Soul or psyche (Ancient Greek: ψυχή psykhḗ, of ψύχειν psýkhein, "to breathe", cf.

(especially of a woman) unmarried.

The spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.

The underside of the foot.

Emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance

The underside of a shoe or boot, often excluding the heel.

The essence or embodiment of a specified quality

The bottom surface of a plow.

A part of humans regarded as immaterial, immortal, separable from the body at death, capable of moral judgment, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.

The bottom surface of the head of a golf club.

This part of a human when disembodied after death.

Any of various chiefly marine flatfishes of the family Soleidae, having both eyes on the right side of the body, and including food fishes such as the Dover sole of the Atlantic Ocean.

In Aristotelian philosophy, an animating or vital principle inherent in living things and endowing them in various degrees with the potential to grow and reproduce, to move and respond to stimuli (as in the case of animals), and to think rationally (as in the case of humans).

Any of various other flatfishes, especially certain flounders.

A human

To furnish (a shoe or boot) with a sole.

A person considered as the embodiment of an intangible quality; a personification

To put the sole of (a golf club) on the ground, as in preparing to make a stroke.

A person's emotional or moral nature

Being the only one

The central or integral part; the vital core

Of or relating to only one individual or group; exclusive

A sense of emotional strength or spiritual vitality held to derive from black and especially African American cultural experience, expressed in areas such as language, social customs, religion, and music.

Only.

Strong, deeply felt emotion conveyed by a speaker, performer, or artist

(legal) Unmarried (especially of a woman); widowed.

Soul music.

Unique; unsurpassed.

The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.

With independent power; unfettered.

The spirit or essence of anything.

(anatomy) The bottom or plantar surface of the foot.

Life, energy, vigor.

(footwear) The bottom of a shoe or boot.

(music) Soul music.

(obsolete) The foot itself.

A person, especially as one among many.

(fish) Solea solea, a flatfish of the family Soleidae.

An individual life.

The bottom or lower part of anything, or that on which anything rests in standing.

(math) A kind of submanifold involved in the soul theorem of Riemannian geometry.

The bottom of the body of a plough; the slade.

To endow with a soul or mind.

The bottom of a furrow.

To beg on All Soul's Day.

The end section of the chanter of a set of bagpipes.

(obsolete) To afford suitable sustenance.

The horny substance under a horse's foot, which protects the more tender parts.

Sole.

(military) The bottom of an embrasure.

By or for African-Americans, or characteristic of their culture; as, soul music; soul newspapers; soul food.

(nautical) A piece of timber attached to the lower part of the rudder, to make it even with the false keel.

To afford suitable sustenance.

(nautical) The floor inside the cabin of a yacht or boat

To indue with a soul; to furnish with a soul or mind.

(mining) The seat or bottom of a mine; applied to horizontal veins or lodes.

The spiritual, rational, and immortal part in man; that part of man which enables him to think, and which renders him a subject of moral government; - sometimes, in distinction from the higher nature, or spirit, of man, the so-called animal soul, that is, the seat of life, the sensitive affections and phantasy, exclusive of the voluntary and rational powers; - sometimes, in distinction from the mind, the moral and emotional part of man's nature, the seat of feeling, in distinction from intellect; - sometimes, the intellect only; the understanding; the seat of knowledge, as distinguished from feeling. In a more general sense, "an animating, separable, surviving entity, the vehicle of individual personal existence."

A wooden band or yoke put around the neck of an ox or cow in the stall.

The seat of real life or vitality; the source of action; the animating or essential part.

A pond or pool; a dirty pond of standing water.

The leader; the inspirer; the moving spirit; the heart; as, the soul of an enterprise; an able general is the soul of his army.

(transitive) to put a sole on (a shoe or boot)

Energy; courage; spirit; fervor; affection, or any other noble manifestation of the heart or moral nature; inherent power or goodness.

To pull by the ears; to pull about; haul; lug.

A human being; a person; - a familiar appellation, usually with a qualifying epithet; as, poor soul.

Any one of several species of flatfishes of the genus Solea and allied genera of the family Soleidæ, especially the common European species (Solea vulgaris), which is a valuable food fish.

A pure or disembodied spirit.

The bottom of the foot; hence, also, rarely, the foot itself.

A perceived shared community and awareness among African-Americans.

The bottom of a shoe or boot, or the piece of leather which constitutes the bottom.

Soul music.

The bottom or lower part of anything, or that on which anything rests in standing.

The immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life

To furnish with a sole; as, to sole a shoe.

A human being;

Being or acting without another; single; individual; only.

Deep feeling or emotion

Single; unmarried; as, a feme sole.

The human embodiment of something;

The underside of footwear or a golfclub

A secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s;

Lean flesh of any of several flatfish

A person's moral or emotional nature.

The underside of the foot

The embodiment or representation of a specific quality.

Right-eyed flatfish; many are valued as food; most common in warm seas especially European

Put a new sole on;

Not divided or shared with others;

Being the only one; single and isolated from others;

Underside of a foot or shoe.

The base of a tool or implement.

Flatfish used for food.

Being the only reason.

No, "solemn" and "sole" are etymologically distinct.

No, "sole" can also denote being the only one, like the sole beneficiary.

Sole refers to the underside of a shoe that touches the ground.

It refers to deep, introspective thinking to clarify one's feelings or beliefs.

That's called a "sole proprietorship."

It's "soulful," meaning full of emotion or depth.

Etymologically, they're distinct, but both convey a sense of singularity or foundational nature.

It means exclusively or only.

A soulmate is someone with whom one has a deep, natural connection or bond.

Yes, Soul is a style of music known for its deep emotional resonance, primarily developed within the African American community.

Yes, they sound alike but have different meanings.

Yes, someone might say, "He has a good soul," implying moral character.

Yes, sole is also a type of flatfish used for food.

"Soul" pertains to the spiritual or immaterial essence of a being.

Yes, e.g., "the soul of a city" can mean its vital or essential character.