sadvssuadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sad” and “suado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,385
“sad” frequency rank
#23,137
“suado” frequency rank
36522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sad suado
Definition triste que está suando

Where the eye mixes sad and suado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sad runs 3 letters (CVC) against suado's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
sad
5 ch
suado

Visual trap between sad and suado

A purely visual mix-up. sad (/sæd/) and suado (/ˈswa.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sad is recorded at frequency rank #13,385, classified as anadj, pronounced /sæd/. suado is at rank #23,137, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈswa.du/.

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 36522, this pair ranks #30,269 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sad vs suado

Shared letters: ads. Private to "sad": -. Private to "suado": ou.

"sad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "suado" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suado ← saudo · ssuado · suaddo · suaod · sudao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sad" and "suado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/sæd/ versus /ˈswa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sad" vs "suado" - which ranks higher?
"sad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,385 in our Portuguese list, against #23,137 for "suado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,269 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sad" and "suado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suado vs sueño". 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 #30,269 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