saiuvssuTell them apart

Quick tell: saiu is a verb, su is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“saiu” is a verb and “su” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,035
“saiu” frequency rank
#6,713
“su” frequency rank
7748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saiu su
Definition Terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo sair. dele

Letter map: saiu vs su

Shared letters muted; letters that set saiu and su apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. saiu runs 4 letters (CVVV) against su's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
saiu
2 ch
su

Role in the sentence - saiu and su

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: saiu is averb and suanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saiu is recorded at frequency rank #1,035, classified as averb. su is at rank #6,713, tagged as anadj.

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 7748, this pair ranks #66,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of saiu vs su

Shared letters: su. Private to "saiu": ai. Private to "su": -.

"saiu" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "su" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saiu ← asiu · saui · siau · ssaiu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "saiu" for "su" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saiu" is a verb and "su" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "saiu" or "su" show up more?
"saiu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,035 in our Portuguese list, against #6,713 for "su". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "saiu" and "su".

  • Full dictionary entry for "saiu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saiu" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs su". 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 #66,304 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