sabavssamaTell them apart

Quick tell: saba is a noun, sama is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“saba” is a noun and “sama” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,708
“saba” frequency rank
#28,025
“sama” frequency rank
69733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saba sama
Definition lençol, roupa fina de cama forma nominativo feminino singular do pronome sám

Letter map: saba vs sama

Shared letters muted; letters that set saba and sama apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. saba and sama follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
saba
4 ch
sama

Grammar separator: saba vs sama

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: saba is anoun and samaapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - b in “saba” becomes m in “sama”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saba is recorded at frequency rank #41,708, classified as anoun, pronounced singular: /sa.'ba/; plural: /sa.'bas/. sama is at rank #28,025, 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 69733, this pair ranks #3,859 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of saba vs sama

Shared letters: as. Private to "saba": b. Private to "sama": m.

"saba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saba ← asba · saab · sabba · sbaa · ssaba
  • sama ← saam · samma · smaa · ssama

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saba" and "sama" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saba" is a noun and "sama" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "saba" or "sama"?
"sama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,025 in our Portuguese list, against #41,708 for "saba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "saba" vs "sama" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "saba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,859 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saba" and "sama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saba vs Sau". 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 #3,859 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