Which to use
“salão” and “sulco” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,751
- “salão” frequency rank
- #45,610
- “sulco” frequency rank
- 48361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | salão | sulco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sala grande | rego |
Where the eye mixes salão and sulco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. salão (CVCVV) and sulco (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses salão with sulco
A purely visual mix-up. salão (/sɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and sulco (/ˈsuɫ.ku/) 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 48361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
salão is recorded at frequency rank #2,751, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. sulco is at rank #45,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsuɫ.ku/.
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 48361, this pair ranks #16,816 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of salão vs sulco
Shared letters: los. Private to "salão": aã. Private to "sulco": cu.
"salão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "sulco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sulco ← sluco · ssulco · suclo · sulcco · sullco · suloc · uslco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "salão" for "sulco" ever safe?
Frequency check: "salão" vs "sulco" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "salão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sulco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,816 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "salão" and "sulco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sueño vs sulco". 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 #16,816 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.