Which to use
“saltar” and “soltar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,609
- “saltar” frequency rank
- #5,356
- “soltar” frequency rank
- 15965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | saltar | soltar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | transpor através de salto | libertar |
Where the eye mixes saltar and soltar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. saltar and soltar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses saltar with soltar
A purely visual mix-up. saltar (/sawˈta(ʁ)/, [saʊ̯ˈta(h)]) and soltar (/soɫ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 a single letter - a in “saltar” becomes o in “soltar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
saltar is recorded at frequency rank #10,609, classified as averb, pronounced /sawˈta(ʁ)/, [saʊ̯ˈta(h)]. soltar is at rank #5,356, tagged as averb, pronounced /soɫ.ˈtaɾ/.
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 15965, this pair ranks #55,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of saltar vs soltar
Shared letters: alrst. Private to "saltar": -. Private to "soltar": o.
"saltar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "soltar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "saltar" and "soltar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "saltar" or "soltar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "saltar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "soltar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "saltar" and "soltar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saltar vs sanar". 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 #55,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.