Which to use
“saba” and “suma” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,708
- “saba” frequency rank
- #7,978
- “suma” frequency rank
- 49686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | saba | suma |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lençol, roupa fina de cama | resumo |
Where the eye mixes saba and suma
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. saba and suma follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between saba and suma
A purely visual mix-up. saba (singular: /sa.'ba/; plural: /sa.'bas/) and suma (/ˈsu.mɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49686, 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/. suma is at rank #7,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsu.mɐ/.
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 49686, this pair ranks #15,303 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of saba vs suma
Shared letters: as. Private to "saba": b. Private to "suma": mu.
"saba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "suma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "saba" for "suma" ever safe?
Which is more common, "saba" or "suma"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "saba" and "suma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "saba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,303 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "saba" and "suma" 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 #15,303 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.