sal

/saw/

//saw// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“sal” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,168) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,168
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,185
“S” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - condimento composto principalmente por cloreto de sódio (NaCl)

Corpus desk

Index PT-sal · sal · Portuguese

sal · rank #3,168 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,168
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,185
  • PHOTO-FINISH rota

Nearest frequency peer: rota (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sal”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sal” sits against the nearest ranked Portuguese headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sal vs se
33% similar
sal vs só
33% similar
sal vs si
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sal
PropertyValue
Headwordsal
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/saw/
Letters3
Frequency rank#3,168
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Onde “sal” fica na frequência do português

Esta escala corre do núcleo do português quotidiano (esquerda) até o rastro de formas raras (direita).salcai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “rota” (#3,167), “taxas” (#3,169), “transição” (#3,170). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for sal is neighbouring look-alikes ("se", "só", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /saw/. Frequency #3,168 among 1,185 “S” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for sal, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Portuguese patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "se", "só", "si", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Portuguese form is sal, spelled S-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    condimento composto principalmente por cloreto de sódio (NaCl)
  2. 2
    composto iônico, resultante de uma reação química entre um ácido e uma base
  3. 3
    nome de várias preparações farmacêuticas que podem ser sais puros, misturas de sais ou de sais com outras substâncias
  4. 4
    graça, finura de espírito
  5. 5
    malícia espirituosa
  6. 6
    o que há de picante ou intencional numa palavra ou frase

Synonyms

sal comumsal de cozinhasal de mesa

This word in other languages

salt(English)sal(Español)sel(Français)Salz(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sal"?
"sal" is spelled S-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /saw/.
What does "sal" mean?
As a noun, "sal" means: condimento composto principalmente por cloreto de sódio (NaCl)
What words are commonly confused with "sal"?
"sal" is commonly confused with "se", "só", "si". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sal" is /saw/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sal" come from?
"sal" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cem#3,188off#3,093lar#3,089cão#3,065

What to do next

You've looked up "sal". Here's where to go from here.

  • "sal" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "se". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #3,168 among Portuguese headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more Portuguese words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list