sã vs sob, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17,153
“sã” frequency rank: #320
“sob” frequency rank: 17473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sã	sob
Definition	tempo propício, adequado, para semear	abaixo, em baixo

Letter map: sã vs sob

Shared letters muted; letters that set sã and sob apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. sã runs 2 letters (CV) against sob's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

2 ch

sã

3 ch

sob

Grammar separator: sã vs sob

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sã is anoun and sobapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sã is recorded at frequency rank #17,153, classified as anoun. sob is at rank #320, tagged as aprep, pronounced /ˈsob/.

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 17473, this pair ranks #53,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sã vs sob

Shared letters: s. Private to "sã": ã. Private to "sob": bo.

"sã" · 2 letters · shape CV · "sob" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sã" and "sob" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sã" or "sob" show up more?

"sob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #320 in our Portuguese list, against #17,153 for "sã". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "sã" vs "sob" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "sã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #53,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sã" and "sob" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sã vs soap". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.