Which to use
“salmão” and “sanção” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,681
- “salmão” frequency rank
- #16,876
- “sanção” frequency rank
- 32557
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | salmão | sanção |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | peixe da família dos Salmodídeos amarelo-alaranjado | ato de sancionar uma lei; aprovação, pelo presidente, de uma lei votada no legislativo |
Where the eye mixes salmão and sanção
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses salmão with sanção
A purely visual mix-up. salmão (/saɫ.ˈmɐ̃w̃/) and sanção (/sɐ̃.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 32557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
salmão is recorded at frequency rank #15,681, classified as anoun, pronounced /saɫ.ˈmɐ̃w̃/. sanção is at rank #16,876, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɐ̃.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 32557, this pair ranks #35,217 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of salmão vs sanção
Shared letters: aosã. Private to "salmão": lm. Private to "sanção": nç.
"salmão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "sanção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "salmão" for "sanção" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "salmão" or "sanção" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "salmão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sanção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,217 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "salmão" and "sanção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sacro vs sanção". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #35,217 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.