safadovssalãoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: safado is a adjective, salão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“safado” is an adjective and “salão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,081
“safado” frequency rank
#2,751
“salão” frequency rank
12832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature safado salão
Definition diz-se de homem que é malandro, pilantra, trapaceiro sala grande

Letter map: safado vs salão

Shared letters muted; letters that set safado and salão apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. safado runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against salão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
safado
5 ch
salão

Grammar separator: safado vs salão

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: safado is anadjective and salãoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

safado is recorded at frequency rank #10,081, classified as anadj. salão is at rank #2,751, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.

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 12832, this pair ranks #59,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of safado vs salão

Shared letters: aos. Private to "safado": df. Private to "salão": lã.

"safado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "salão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • safado ← asfado · saafdo · safaddo · safaod · safdao · saffado · sfaado · ssafado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "safado" and "salão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "safado" is an adjective and "salão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "safado" or "salão"?
"salão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,751 in our Portuguese list, against #10,081 for "safado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "safado" vs "salão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "safado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "salão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "safado" and "salão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "safado vs sarado". 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 #59,643 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