sumadavssumanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sumada is a participle, suman is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sumada” is a participle and “suman” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,713
“sumada” frequency rank
#7,791
“suman” frequency rank
50504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sumada suman
Definition Forma del femenino de sumado, participio de sumar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de sumar.

Where the eye mixes sumada and suman

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sumada
5 ch
suman

Look-alike desk: sumada vs suman

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sumada is [suˈmað̞a] while suman is [ˈsumãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sumada is recorded at frequency rank #42,713, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [suˈmað̞a]. suman is at rank #7,791, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsumãn].

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 50504, this pair ranks #102,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sumada vs suman

Shared letters: amsu. Private to "sumada": d. Private to "suman": n.

"sumada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "suman" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sumadasmuada · ssumada · suamda · sumaad · sumadda · sumdaa · summada · usmada
  • sumansmuan · ssuman · suamn · sumann · summan · sumna · usman

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sumada" for "suman" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sumada" is a participle and "suman" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sumada" or "suman" show up more?
"suman" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,791 in our Spanish list, against #42,713 for "sumada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sumada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sumada" and "suman" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sudado vs sumada". 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 #102,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list